Amazon Fresh goes cage-free for all eggs

Amazon Fresh, Amazon.com Inc.’s supermarket banner, has transitioned to all cage-free eggs.

Seattle-based Amazon said Wednesday that all national- and private-brand selections of eggs at Amazon Fresh in the United States are now cage-free only and meet third-party certification requirements such as Certified Humane and USDA Organic. Products include whole-shell and liquid eggs in the dairy department in stores and online from all national brands — such as Organic Valley and Vital Farms — as well as Amazon’s Happy Belly own brand.

“Amazon Fresh made the decision to roll out our cage-free commitment nationally as a response to animal welfare becoming an increasing priority to our customers and the industry,” according to John Farrell, chief merchant for Amazon Fresh. “This commitment is a result of our team supporting animal welfare policies, and we look forward to hearing feedback from our customers as we continue to focus on product sustainability in our selection across different categories.”

In July, as part of sustainability efforts for its product lines, Amazon said it committed to sourcing cage-free eggs for grocery private-brand whole-shell egg products in North America and Europe. That includes subsidiary Whole Foods Market. All shell and liquid eggs sold in the specialty grocer’s dairy cases and used in its kitchens and bakeries in the U.S. are cage-free and beyond, audited by one of four production systems to meet Whole Foods’ Animal Welfare Standards for Laying Hens. In Canada, all eggs at Whole Foods stores come from cage-free hens.

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Amazon noted that the conversion to all cage-free eggs differentiates Amazon Fresh from other national and conventional grocery retailers. Overall, Amazon Fresh has more than 40 stores in eight states and Washington, D.C.

“At Vital Farms, all of our hens are pasture-raised and have been since our founding in 2007,” commented Peter Pappas, chief sales officer at Austin, Texas-based Vital Farms. “We recognize the significance of a major national retailer improving their baseline standards, which Amazon Fresh has done. We’ll continue to identify partners that help to raise the standards on animal welfare.”

Among Amazon’s sustainability efforts in the grocery arena — spanning its private brands, Amazon Fresh, Amazon Kitchen, Amazon Go and Whole Foods businesses — is a commitment to sourcing gestation crate-free pork by 2025 in its own-brand fresh pork products in North America. At Whole Foods stores, all pork sold in the meat department is also crate-free and certified by the Global Animal Partnership, Amazon reported. Most of Amazon’s private-label ground, whole-bean and pod coffee products in North America are certified by Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade International or Fair Trade USA, and the company expects the remaining selection to become certified this year.

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Also, in North America and Europe, Amazon grocery own brands source paper products like paper towels, toilet paper and facial tissue that are certified against sustainability standards or as recycled by organizations such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). All 365 by Whole Foods Market paper products, too, are made from 100% recycled materials or certified by FSC, Amazon said.