Supermarket Iceland has been dubbed “the UK’s worst supermarket for caging hens” as it faces failure in a commitment to go cage-free before the end of the year.
Nearly a decade ago, all major UK supermarkets pledged to go cage-free in their egg supply chains by December 31st 2025. The deadline is fast approaching, but not all are on track, according to a report by The Humane League UK (THL UK), an animal protection charity.
Iceland was singled out for criticism after was found to be sourcing more eggs from caged birds than in any year assessed to date. According to Iceland’s own data, in 2023-2024, 71% of the eggs the supermarket sold came from caged hens; that was 6% more than the previous year, and the highest amount since Iceland began reporting in 2017-2018. “We really aren’t interested in excuses,” said the League’s campaign manager Claire Williams.
Iceland made the original promise in 2016, stating that “it is clear that our customers would prefer to buy eggs from non-caged hens”. However, Iceland only committed to sourcing its whole eggs from cage-free hens, not ingredient eggs – which falls short of other supermarkets.
Asda is also a “supermarket of concern” due to gaps in its reporting on transitioning to cage-free systems.
Lidl, Tesco, Morrisons, and Aldi are on track to meet their commitment, though they are still currently selling eggs from cages. Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Marks and Spencer and the Co-op are already cage-free.
While ‘barren’ battery cages were outlawed in the UK in 2012, an estimated 8 million hens are still in so-called ‘enriched’ cages, which campaigners say severely harm the wellbeing of the birds.
In November, a letter organised by Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) and signed by Waitrose, Greggs, Co-op, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Aldi, Mitchells & Butlers and The Big Table Group, called on Defra secretary Steve Reed to ban the installation of new cage systems immediately and to phase out all existing cage systems for egg-laying hens by the end of the current parliament.
The letter followed CIWF’s EggTrack 2024 report that showed progress towards cage-free commitments across 40 UK companies. Greggs, McDonald’s and Pizza Express were listed as ‘leaders’ while Greene King was among the ‘laggards’.
CIWF said many countries across the EU, including Luxembourg, France, Germany and the Czech Republic have already made “significant progress to ‘end the cage age for hens. Now it’s time for the Government to follow suit.”
Last month, food companies were criticised for their slow progress in meeting the Better Chicken Commitment – which relates to birds bred for meat.
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