UPDATE: The announcements keep coming: ConAgra Foods announced Monday it's working on sourcing 100% cage-free in the U.S. by 2025.
Dive Brief:
- By 2020, Mondelez will only source cage-free eggs in the U.S. and Canada and by 2025 in Europe, following in many of its competitors' footsteps.
- The company's current complete cage-free egg sourcing is in all its European chocolate products and biscuit items in Belgium and the Netherlands.
- Josh Balk, senior director of food policy for The Humane Society of the United States, praised the company for its progress.
Dive Insight:
Mondelez's move comes after announcements from Kellogg, General Mills, and Nestle committing to cage-free eggs in supply chains. The real challenge for the industry will be making sure the transition runs smoothly.
"Given our phased in approach and the expansion of cage-free offerings within the industry, we do not expect any negative impacts to our U.S. supply chain," Edie Burge, a spokesperson for Nestle, told Food Dive in an email.
Nestle's commitment was just for the U.S., as international markets might have trouble meeting the same timeline, Paul Bakus, president of U.S. corporate affairs, told Reuters.
Mondelez's move highlights its goal of leading the pack in better-for-you products, though it will take more than this announcement to improve its bottom line and receive less activist investor pressure.