We’re welcoming the news that Sainsbury’s has committed to selling only free-range eggs in its stores from April 2020, joining the likes of the Co-op, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer.
The major UK supermarket sells 2.2 million eggs per day – or 800 million per year – which will result in a lot more happy hens laying the eggs we eat.
Sainsbury’s says the commitment will help meet growing customer demand for free-range eggs, with recent figures from Kantar showing free-range egg sales have grown by 12% over the last year, while the sale of barn and cage eggs have declined over the same period.
What is unclear is whether the supermarket’s policy also applies to eggs used as ingredients, so we are contacting Sainsbury’s to clarify this point and to push for their free-range policy to extend to eggs within own brand processed foods.
The news has also been welcomed by the British Free Range Egg Producers Association, though it said it would be monitoring the move to make sure farmers were still paid a fair price as Sainsbury’s would no longer be offering a ‘budget’ egg to its customers.
Our dream has always been to see hens kept in small free-range flocks and this latest move by Sainsbury’s is yet further proof that consumer demand has the biggest influence on animal welfare.
