Laying hens in cage-free aviary housing at the Manitoba Egg Farmers Learning and Resource Centre at Glenlea.

Survey says Canadians want cage-free eggs but purchase choices don’t agree

The Canadian egg-farming sector is about halfway into a transition to enriched cage housing

Do Canadians want cage-free eggs? Survey says yes. But the data says they’re not voting with their wallets. In a survey of more than 1,000 Canadians, 72 per cent of respondents said Canada’s code of practice should ban caged confinement of laying hens. The survey, released this summer, comes from Bryant Research, a U.K. firm






A+W, which sources eggs from this production facility, said it plans to source its eggs from hens in open-barn housing and raised without use of antibiotics. (CNW Group/A+W Restaurants)

A+W ups ante on layer hen housing

Having already pledged to source eggs from hens in enriched housing and raised without use of antibiotics, burger chain A+W now plans to get all its eggs from hens in open housing. The Vancouver-based income fund said Wednesday that despite having “no open-barn housing options available” today that meet its antibiotic-free requirement, it plans to


Manitoba Egg Farmers, which in 2013 called a halt to installation of conventional cages, has publicly demonstrated enriched housing systems.  (Manitoba Co-operator photo by Shannon VanRaes)

Egg farmers to phase out cage housing over 20 years

Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada’s egg farmers plan to replace conventional hen cages with more humane conditions over the next 20 years, amid growing pressure from consumers, restaurants and food companies. The plan — announced Friday by Egg Farmers of Canada, an industry group that manages nearly all of the country’s egg supply — comes



Mondelez’s brands in Canada include Oreo cookies, which marked their 100th anniversary with this giant replica unveiled in 2012 in Toronto. (CNW Group/Kraft Canada)

Snack maker Mondelez plans for cage-free eggs by 2020

Reuters — Mondelez International, the maker of Cadbury chocolates and Oreo cookies, said it would stop using eggs laid by caged hens for its products sold in Canada and the U.S. by 2020. Formed in 2012 by Kraft Foods’ spinoff of its grocery business, including the Christie and Nabisco cookie and cracker lines, Mondelez joins

(Dave Bedard photo)

Subway to switch to cage-free eggs by 2025

Reuters — Sandwich chain Subway said it would stop using eggs laid by caged hens in its North American outlets by 2025, joining a number of companies that are going cage-free amid pressure from consumers and animal-rights groups. Subway, which already serves eggs laid by free-range hens at its outlets in Europe and eggs laid