No need to count your carbs: leading Italian manufacturer, Barilla Group—a well-known name for US pasta lovers—announced last week that they've completed their transition to a 100% cage-free egg supply in the USA, Italy, France, Russia, Turkey, and Brazil a whole year ahead of their 2020 global commitment!

As of last week, all of the eggs found in Barilla products will be sourced from hens living outside of cruel battery cages—with nearly 2 million hens set to benefit each year.

Did you know the fight for cage-free eggs just hit a major milestone?

Leonardo Mirone, Raw Material Purchasing Director, commented: "This commitment forms part of our “Good for you, good for the planet” sustainability program which we launched in 2010. Along with changes in European Legislation regarding the rearing of laying hens that came into force in 2012, and with support from Compassion in World Farming, we decided to challenge ourselves not only in Europe but across all our global activities.

“We committed to phase out cages from our egg supply chain by 2020 and are very proud to have achieved this goal a year in advance. This is but one of our recent achievements - we have also become an animal test free company."

Compassion USA is encouraged by Barilla's timely cage-free transition and hopes the company's leadership sends a signal to others in and outside their sector that there is no time to lose in this modern age of more conscious consumers.

For more information about who’s leading the charge—or lagging behind—in the fight for a cage-free future, look out for the 2019 annual EggTrack report coming this September.