Major retailers are increasingly falling short of their 2016 commitment to stop selling eggs from caged hens, raising concerns about the future of animal welfare standards in the food industry.

In 2016, 14-year-old Lucy Gavaghan launched a petition that quickly gained widespread support, collecting over 280,000 signatures in her campaign to end supermarket funding for caged chicken farming.

TescoTesco This impressive campaign, backed by significant public support, led all major UK supermarkets to commit to going cage-free by 2025.

By the start of this year, Aldi joined Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Co-op, and Morrisons as the latest industry giants to stop selling eggs from caged hens. But eight years later, several of their competitors are at risk of reneging on their pledge as the 2025 deadline rapidly approaches.

LidlLidl “They won’t all make the commitment by January 2025, that’s for sure,” said Robert Gooch, former CEO of the British Free Range Egg Producers Association, in an interview with The Grocer Magazine in August.

The independent agrifood consultant went further, attributing the failure to meet commitments to a "lack of retail commitments in contracts to producers to invest in barn production."

AsdaAsda Even within Barn Egg production systems, however, hens still have no access to the outdoors and lack natural daylight.

While Tesco maintains that it is on track to meet its 2025 target, research from Kantar suggests significant changes will be required for all retailers still selling eggs from caged hens to fulfil their pledges.

IcelandIceland Lidl stated: “We are committed to working with our suppliers to phase out the sale of eggs from caged hens in our stores by 2025. This commitment covers both shell eggs and eggs used as ingredients in our products.”

On its website, Tesco affirms: “Tesco has committed to sourcing 100% cage-free shell eggs across own-brand and branded products for Tesco UK, Onestop, ROI, Booker, and CE by 2025. For ingredient eggs, Tesco has committed to sourcing 100% cage-free eggs for Tesco UK and Onestop in all own-brand products by 2025.”

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Asda states: “Asda is committed to growing cage-free egg sales and sourcing cage-free shell eggs by 2025. We are also working with our suppliers to improve the welfare of laying hens and to source eggs used as ingredients from cage-free systems by 2025.”

Iceland adds: “Iceland has committed to ending the sale of eggs from caged hens in its UK stores by 2025.”