By Rachel Dreskin

Even in these unprecedented times, conscious consumers like you continue to break cages for millions of hens in our food system, and companies across every sector—and across the world—are listening.

Despite the many challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s just-released, blockbuster EggTrack report shows that progress is marching on: Driven by rising consumer demand for transparency and better treatment for animals, companies and producers continue to make progress on their commitments to source only eggs from hens that are cage-free by 2026 or sooner.

Compassion in World Farming tracked 210 of these companies in this year’s report, the first time we’ve expanded beyond the US and Europe to include global companies. Created to ensure companies can and will stick to their cage-free commitments, the annual EggTrack report provides a birds-eye view of the global egg market, identifying both leaders and laggards in the industry.

Caging hens for the purpose of egg production is widely considered to be one of the worst-of-the-worst factory farming practices. Cage-free eggs come from hens raised in barns, where they have space to turn around and stretch their wings, as well as places to perch, scratch, nest, and take dust baths. By contrast, battery cages, where most hens still live, only give them space equivalent to the size of a sheet of paper.

The good news for hens and consumers alike is that some of the biggest names in food are continuing to make eggcellent progress, including General Mills, Danone, McDonald’s, Subway, and Target. Unfortunately, others—like Burger King, Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., Krispy Kreme, and The Fresh Market—are falling eggregiously behind.

Fortunately, in the past five years, nearly every major food company has committed to go 100% cage-free, with the proportion of hens raised in cage-free systems in the US growing from 9.8% in 2016 to 25.1% today. And even better—and as this year’s global EggTrack report demonstrates—corporate demand for cage-free eggs is no longer limited to Europe and North America.

Since Compassion in World Farming first published EggTrack in 2016, the number of companies with global cage-free commitments has grown from five to more than 37, including global giants like Nestlé, Marriott, Barilla, Kellogg’s, Aldi Sud, and Aldi Nord and brands like Breyer’s, Hellmann’s, Ben & Jerry’s, Sara Lee, Entenmann’s, and Häagen-Dazs.