Food Business Program

EggTrack USA Report

EggTrack 2024 - U.S. & Canada: Pushing for progress in egg-laying hen welfare

Welcome to Compassion in World Farming’s (CIWF) 2024 EggTrack Spotlight on the U.S. and Canada. Typically published on a global scale, this iteration of Eggtrack is focused on companies with a sizeable market in the United States and/or Canada to provide an in-depth analysis of the egg market in this region. This compliance report is published annually to:

Highlight reputable companies and their transition from conventional battery cages for laying hens to more humane, cage-free supply chains.
Educate food industry professionals and consumers on market trends, compliance resources, and meaningful laying hen commitments and policies.
Hold companies accountable that have weakened, removed, or failed to publicly report progress toward their cage-free egg commitments.

Over 380 million laying hens are farmed for their eggs in the United States every year, producing over 110 billion eggs annually ¹. While the number of U.S. hens kept in conventional caged systems is declining each year, 60% ² of commercially raised hens live their entire lives in barren, highly restricted, and extremely inhumane conditions.

Laying hen farming in Canada, however, is smaller in scale, but encounters similar issues regarding inhumane housing conditions. Approximately 35.6 million hens were reared for egg production in Canada in 2023, producing nearly 884 million eggs annually ³. Conventional battery cages are also in decline but are instead replaced by enriched cages, which similarly hinder the laying hens' ability to behave naturally ⁴. With over 81% of commercial laying hens confined to caged systems in Canada ⁵, the cage-free market struggles to break over 20% of the overall flock.

Egg industry progress and introduction of state laws

The Good News: Thanks to the combined efforts of compassionate consumers, reputable businesses and producers in the food industry, and progressive U.S. state laws banning inhumane confinement practices, the U.S. has increased its cage-free flock to approximately 40%, or 124.8 million laying hens ². Along with partnering with companies to achieve fully cage-free supply chains, CIWF’s Campaigns team advocates for meaningful policy changes. These efforts include supporting state legislative initiatives and advocating for positive transformation in federal aid programs that further aid the transition toward a more compassionate U.S. egg industry.

Julia Johnson - U.S. Head of Food Business Compassion in World Farming

The transition to cage-free eggs is essential for improving the welfare of millions of hens in the United States, as it allows them to live a better quality of life. This is evident when birds can engage in natural behaviors like foraging, perching, and dust-bathing. By supporting more humane practices, consumers and companies can help reduce the suffering of millions of animals every year. Together, we can catalyze the shift in one of the most affordable commodities on the market and drive ethical choices across the nation.

CIWF’s Food Business team continues to work with companies in the United States and has recently begun outreach in Canada to support companies transitioning away from inhumane caged housing and increasing the cage-free flock. Through these efforts and success stories across the continent, we believe a future where all laying hens are raised without cages is achievable.

Welfare Issues

Laying hen behavior, welfare issues, and commercial housing systems.

Laying Hen Welfare

In-Ovo Sexing: Advancing Poultry Welfare with Innovative Technology

The problem: Cages are not the only issue detrimentally affecting the welfare of poultry raised for their eggs. Roughly half of the fertilized eggs hatched for the purpose of rearing laying hen flocks hatch as male chicks. While hatched female chicks grow up to become laying hens, the male chicks are deemed unsuitable for commercial production as layer breeds are strongly selected for high egg production rather than broiler chicken meat yield. Therefore, these newly hatched male chicks are typically killed via maceration or gassing at one day of age. This barbaric – yet common – practice is known as male chick culling.

Over 300 million day-old male chicks are culled this way in the United States every year, adding up to 6 billion culled globally ¹⁹. This practice is gaining awareness amongst the U.S. public with 73% of survey respondents agreeing that the egg industry should find alternative solutions ²⁰. Several European countries have passed legislation banning these practices, including Germany, France (both taking effect in 2022), and Italy (taking effect in 2026) ²¹. No similar legislation currently exists in the United States.

The solution: In-ovo sexing is a new technology that can accurately determine the sex of the chick prior to hatching from eggs. This practice is an innovative alternative to male chick culling that will allow producers to confirm and sort laying hen eggs early in the embryo’s development, potentially mitigating the need for male chick culling (ideally before the embryo’s seventh day of embryonic development, before pain receptors have formed)²². With a high degree of accuracy, eggs determined to be male are removed and destroyed before the embryo can feel pain – preventing a painful death for billions of day-old chicks each year. The resulting egg product can be repurposed as egg ingredients in protein powders and animal nutrition ²¹. As rapid refinement of this technology continues, U.S. consumers can anticipate reputable producers to utilize this technology as early as mid-2025 ²³. Many U.S. producers have expressed interest in in-ovo sexing, and Kipster Farms, Nestfresh Eggs, and Egg Innovations have already committed to use this technology in their layer operations in the coming years ²⁴, ²⁵.

Compassion in World Farming is committed to ending male chick culling. We encourage the use of dual-purpose breeds, where male chicks can be reared until adulthood for meat. Since U.S. marketing opportunities for rooster meat are currently limited, in-ovo sexing technologies are an acceptable alternative so long as they:

are less invasive/damaging to the embryo, 
determine sex with high accuracy (at least equal to 98.5%) and can destroy selected eggs prior to the seventh day of embryonic development (before pain receptor formation), and
provide appropriate rearing conditions for males accidentally hatched through in-ovo sexing.

Chick Culling

CIWF's full position resource on alternatives to male chick culling. Published 2023.

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State Legislation and Public Programs

As of January 1st 2025, eleven states have signed policies into law banning cruel confinement for laying hens, effectively mandating improved environments for millions of hens annually. Eight states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington) have created more meaningful state policies by also prohibiting the sale of eggs laid by hens in battery cages. Cage-free legislation in Michigan, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah took effect on January 1st, 2025, impacting the lives of approximately 20.4 million laying hens every year ².

While U.S. citizens and producers make the compassionate decision to remove inhumane cages through state legislation, producers also face higher production costs during the initial investment in new compliant cage-free systems ²⁶. Proponents of these cage-free transitions want to ensure their food purchases reflect the bills they voted into law. Therefore, banning the production and sale of eggs in caged production systems is imperative to shifting and maintaining state-supported cage-free egg production.

In Canada, the National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC) serves as the primary authority for guidelines on farm animal welfare. In 2017, NFACC introduced a plan to phase out battery cages in favor of alternative systems, with full implementation set for 2036 ²⁷. However, the updated code permits the use of enriched cages as an alternative to traditional battery cages, alongside non-caged housing systems. While this represents progress toward ending the use of inhumane battery cages, the adoption of cage-free housing has been slow due to widespread adoption of enriched cage systems.

Cage-Free Eggs & WIC

In The United States, federal aid programs are also positively impacting the cage-free egg market. The Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children (or WIC Program) is one of the leading federal aid programs that provide supplemental foods and other health services to low-income pregnant and postpartum women, as well as infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk. Originally piloted in 1972, this USDA-led program was created to provide supplemental foods – such as eggs rich in nutrients – to benefit underserved families at risk of malnutrition ²⁸. Cage-free eggs have historically been excluded from the program due to their higher price point and a misconception that they are a specialty item. However, this outdated understanding of the cage-free market is changing. In 2024 alone, seven state agencies (Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Rhode Island, and Tennessee) began including cage-free options under their WIC programs, bringing the total to 39 (Including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico).

As of January 2025, only 13 states still prohibit cage-free egg options for WIC eligibility, affecting nearly 1.5 million WIC recipients nationally ²⁹. A truly compassionate and equitable program provides humane options for animal-sourced foods regardless of income or status.

Alex Cragun - U.S. Head of Campaigns Compassion in World Farming

Expanding the WIC program to include cage-free options nationwide ensures equitable access to higher quality, ethically sourced food for families in need. This aligns with modern consumer expectations and reinforces our commitment to public health and sustainable practices. By integrating these options, we empower participants with nutritious choices while supporting industry standards that prioritize animal welfare.

WIC

Learn more about the CIWF’s work to advocate for cage-free options under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Cage-free Eggs for WIC

Marketing Feature: Retail

For retail companies, optimizing product placement in-store is essential in influencing consumer decisions. In-store signage, product placement on or near eye level, and even product color can play an essential role in persuading customers to purchase one product over the other. Shopping trends have found that approximately 75% of shoppers will make at least one decision in-store, further incentivizing the measures companies can take to prioritize certain items ³⁰. This approach applies to eggs notably for their numerous store options, including housing systems, nutritional value, and affordability.

Credit: Getty Images

Consumers often have many varieties of eggs to choose from in a grocery store, with eggs from different production systems (caged, cage-free, organic, etc.) and sizes (e.g., regular, jumbo), or even colors (white or brown). Labeling the type of housing system has become a prominent on-pack feature in recent years, with the cartons boldly stating if the hens laying these eggs live in cage-free, free-range, pasture-raised, enriched, or conventional (often marketed as “classic”) eggs. Retailers like Save-On-Foods and Dollar Tree are working toward optimizing egg product placement and clear marketing efforts to educate consumers about more humane housing systems for laying hens.

Save-On Foods developed some of the first in-store signage for cage-free eggs in North America. In partnership with the Vancouver Humane Society, Save-On-Foods piloted shelf labels in two of their stores for cage eggs and cage-free options (free-run, free-range, and organic) with brief descriptions for each option’s conditions. The company officially launched this labeling format in 2014 and nearly all 187 locations have adopted clearer signage for its egg supply.

In 2024, Save-On-Foods began improving its shelf signage to help raise consumer awareness of hen housing conditions and is re-focusing its efforts to ensure the correct placement of these labels in every location nationwide.

credit: Save-On-Foods

CIWF commends Save-On-Foods for its early adoption of shelf signage for hen housing systems and is encouraged by Save-On-Foods’ commitment to continue raising consumer awareness on this matter. To ensure a more humane food system is realized, we strongly encourage Save-On-Foods to:

Re-commit to meeting a meaningful and realistic timeline for adopting cage-free eggs in all of its locations.
Report progress by volume alongside its revenue-based reporting to ensure alignment with its time-based commitment and target products to transition to a cage-free option.
Develop a meaningful implementation plan for transitioning the remaining conventional supply chains to ensure no hens are confined in cages under the Save-On brand.

In 2023, Dollar Tree pilot tested targeted merchandising of cage-free eggs in 63 stores. Clear signage was used to help customers identify which eggs were raised in caged settings compared to cage-free options, with both egg options side-by-side. The results were ultimately positive, revealing that even with price constraints, consumers prefer cage-free eggs. Since this pilot, Dollar Tree has expanded its marketing strategy to hundreds of other stores nationwide to its customer base.

Template language from in-store signage:

One dozen eggs

Eggs from cage-free hens

Cage-free hens are able to roam indoors and have outdoor access
Free to express natural behaviors

Logos of available cage-free options

Eggs from caged hens

Hens raised inside cages
Behaviors and movements restricted

CIWF applauds Dollar Tree in its efforts to improve consumer education and marketing of cage-free egg offerings and encourages more transparency on progress towards its original 2025 cage-free commitment. CIWF recommends that Dollar Tree should:

Recommit to a meaningful timeline (originally set for EOY 2025) and establish annual benchmarks toward meeting this goal.
Annually report progress toward their cage-free commitment by volume of cage-free egg offerings.

Feature Farms

How Kipster U.S. and Handsome Brook Farm are leading the way with progressive humane and sustainable farming.

Producer Feature

CIWF recognizes companies taking significant steps to swiftly advance to more humane and sustainable food supply chains through its Good Farm Animal Welfare Awards (GFAWA). Originally launched in 2007 with the Good Egg Award, our awards program has grown to cover multiple species and different sustainability efforts. Over 1.4 billion animals across the world are set to benefit annually from the policies and programs implemented through these awards, and this number is only expected to grow as companies continue pursuing and achieving ambitious welfare commitments.

Read more about CIWF’s flagship Good Egg Award.

Good Egg Awards

Company Reporting

The following denotes the type of egg that a company has committed to cage-free sourcing:

Combined: where companies report a combined percentage for multiple, specified egg categories, CIWF categorizes that reporting as ‘combined’. Additionally, if companies do not specify egg type in their commitment, it will also be categorized as “combined”.
Shell Egg: include whole, raw eggs with the shell unbroken.
Egg Product: include processed and convenient forms of eggs, including liquid, frozen, dried, and pre-cooked products.
- Liquid: includes broken eggs where the yolk and white could be separated or blended (other ingredients may also be added to the liquid).
Egg Ingredient: includes products containing eggs as an ingredient that may be purchased by a company from a third party, such as baked goods and prepared foods (e.g., muffins, cakes, pasta etc.).

The following definitions only apply to egg commitments for Retailers in the Retailers & Meal Kits category:

Branded: Everything that is sold under an industry name.
Own-Brand: Brands directly owned by the retailers including tertiary and no-name brands.
Overall: Both own-brand and branded shell eggs.

Data trends

Upcoming 2025 commitment deadlines

125 commitments with 2025 deadlines are recorded in EggTrack. CIWF is actively tracking reported progress to ensure this data is current.

Producer Progress

Looking Forward

This year’s EggTrack is a regional glimpse of the overall cage-free transition. Despite challenges such as cost, avian influenza, and other ongoing supply chain constraints, hundreds of companies worldwide are actively progressing and fulfilling their cage-free pledges.

Nearly 10 years ago, companies began making cage-free commitments, with many pledging to fully transition by 2025. EggTrack 2025 will primarily focus on these commitments – celebrating companies that have met or are close to meeting their 2025 pledges and encouraging transparency from those that have removed their commitment or made little progress without re-establishing their goals.

The steady progress toward cage-free egg production reflects a growing commitment from companies to prioritize animal welfare and align with consumer expectations. While challenges remain, ongoing collaboration between businesses, advocacy groups, and policymakers continues to drive meaningful change. Moving forward, maintaining momentum and accountability are key to ensuring a fully cage-free future.

If your company is interested in strengthening or better reporting toward its cage-free commitment, please contact us. Our Food Business team collaborates with food companies by providing technical resources and assisting companies with the evaluation and mapping their supply chains, driving progress toward a more humane and sustainable future. To learn more, contact the Food Business Team.

Contact The Food Business Team

EggTrack USA and Canada measures food companies' progress reporting against their U.S., Canadian, and global cage-free egg commitments. The report summarizes progress by region and food company sector.

All information in EggTrack is based on companies’ publicly disclosed information on the company’s website, posted animal welfare policy, ESG/CSR reporting, or in a press release.

Any company with a cage-free commitment must publicly disclose and update its progress annually. This provides accountability, signaling to investors, customers, and other key stakeholders that the company is dedicated to meeting its social responsibility goals.

Due to the variety in egg supply, progress reporting is categorized into four categories: Combined, Shell Egg, Egg Product, and Egg Ingredient. A description of each category can be found in the “Company Reporting” section.

For Retailers: If reporting cage-free transition via revenue-based reporting methods, it is crucial to also track and report the total volume of cage-free egg products. This ensures alignment with commitment timelines and facilitates a smooth transition. Companies with revenue-based reporting will be designated as such.

Publicly disclosed data for EggTrack is only valid for a two-year period. This ensures company reporting is included that does not directly align with our EggTrack reporting deadline (historically July 31st each year).

Eggtrack may further divide a company’s public reporting into a variety of categories, including Geographical Region, Sector, and Egg Category.

Companies are designated as “global” if their operations are not confined to a single continental region. This approach encourages companies with global operations to make progress and report on cage-free eggs worldwide. Companies are also encouraged to report regional progress to better understand regional supply challenges.

There are five industry sectors included in EggTrack: Food Service & Hospitality, Manufacturers, Producers, Restaurants, and Retailers & Meal Kits.

1. USDA NASS - Chickens and Eggs 2023 Summary. (2024)

2. USDA: Economic Research Service using data from USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service.

3. Statistics Canada: Table: 32-10-0119-01 Production and disposition of eggs, annual. (2024)

4. Platz, S., Heyn, E., Hergt, F., Weigl, B., Erhard, M.: Comparative study on the behaviour, health and productivity of laying hens in a furnished cage and an aviary system. Berl Munch Tierarztl Wochenschr. 122, 235–40 (2009)

5. Egg Farmers of Canada: 2023 Annual Report. (2023)

6. Weeks, C., Nicol, C.: Behavioural needs, priorities and preferences of laying hens. Worlds Poult Sci J. 62, 296–307 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1079/WPS200598

7. van Staaveren, N., Harlander, A.: Cause and prevention of injurious pecking in chickens. Presented at the November (2020)

8. Glatz, P., Underwood, G.: Current methods and techniques of beak trimming laying hens, welfare issues and alternative approaches. Anim Prod Sci. 61, (2020). https://doi.org/10.1071/AN19673

9. United Egg Producers: Evolution of U.S. Egg Farming, https://unitedegg.com/about/evolution-of-u-s-egg-farming/

10. CIWF: Welfare Issues For Laying Hens, https://www.ciwf.com/farmed-animals/chickens/egg-laying-hens/welfare-issues/

11. Rodenburg, B., Tuyttens, F., Reu, K., Herman, L., Zoons, J., Sonck, B.: Welfare assessment of laying hens in furnished cages and non-cage systems: An on-farm comparison. Animal Welfare 17 (2008) 4. 17, (2008). https://doi.org/10.1017/S096272860002786X

12. Riddle, E.R., Ali, A.B.A., Campbell, D.L.M., Siegford, J.M.: Space use by 4 strains of laying hens to perch, wing flap, dust bathe, stand and lie down. PLoS One. 13, e0190532 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190532

13. Sandilands, V., Baker, L., Donbavand, J., Brocklehurst, S.: Effects of Different Scratch Mat Designs on Hen Behaviour and Eggs Laid in Enriched Cages. Animals (Basel). 11, (2021). https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061544

14. Mench, J.A., Blatchford, R.A.: Determination of space use by laying hens using kinematic analysis. Poult Sci. 93, 794–8 (2014). https://doi.org/10.3382/ps.2013-03549

15. O’Keefe, T.: 2021 survey: Cage-free conversions slowing down, https://www.wattagnet.com/egg/egg-production/article/15532604/2021-survey-cage-free-conversions-fewer-total-hens

16. Bryant Research: Canadians Support An End to Cage Confinement for Egg-Laying Hens, https://bryantresearch.co.uk/insight-items/end-cage-confinement/

17. CIWF: Higher Welfare Alternatives for Hens, https://www.ciwf.com/farmed-animals/chickens/egg-laying-hens/higher-welfare/

18. Daedal Research: The US Shell Eggs Market: Analysis By Production, By Consumption, By Type (Caged, Free Range & Cage Free and Pasture Raised), By Distribution Channel (Retail, Breaker, Institution and Export), Size and Trends with Impact of COVID-19 and Forecast up to 2028. (2023)

19. Danovich, T.: Why the US egg industry is still killing 300 million chicks a year, https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22374193/eggs-chickens-animal-welfare-culling

20. Cultivate Insights: Consumer Attitudes and Interest Regarding In-Ovo Egg Sexing. (2023)

21. InnovateAnimalAg: In-Ovo Sexing, https://www.innovateanimalag.org/egg-sexing#:~:text=In%2Dovo%20sexing%20is%20an,of%20day%2Dold%20male%20chicks.

22. Bjørnstad, S., Austdal, L.P.E., Roald, B., Glover, J.C., Paulsen, R.E.: Cracking the Egg: Potential of the Developing Chicken as a Model System for Nonclinical Safety Studies of Pharmaceuticals. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 355, 386–96 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1124/jpet.115.227025

23. Zimmerman, S.: Agtech seedlings: First US egg producer adopts technology to avoid killing male chicks, https://www.agriculturedive.com/news/agtech-eggs-in-ovo-sexing-aquabounty-closes-gene-edited-salmon-syngenta-weed-control-enko/735532/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202024-12-13%20Agriculture%20Dive%20%5Bissue:68772%5D&utm_term=Agriculture%20Dive

24. Innovate Animal Ag: Agri Advanced Technologies Announces they are Supplying Two In-Ovo Sexing Systems to US, https://www.innovateanimalag.org/blog/breaking-agri-advanced-technologies-announces-they-are-supplying-two-in-ovo-sexing-system-to-us

25. David, L.: First U.S. Egg Producer Commits to End Chick Culling by Fall, https://sentientmedia.org/first-us-egg-producer-end-chick-culling/

26. Caputo, V., Lusk, J., Tonsor, G., Staples, A.: The Transition to Cage-Free Eggs. (2023)

27. NFACC . (2017)

28. Hodges, L., Todd, J.: WIC Program, https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/wic-program/

29. CIWF: Cage-Free and WIC, https://www.ciwf.com/public-policy/cage-free-and-wic/

30. USC Dornsife: Psychology of the Grocery Store, https://appliedpsychologydegree.usc.edu/blog/psychology-of-the-grocery-store

Good Egg Award

Producer Features: Kipster U.S. & Handsome Brook Farms

Cage-Free Egg Policy

Good Egg Award

CIWF recognizes companies taking significant steps to swiftly advance to more humane and sustainable food supply chains through its Good Farm Animal Welfare Awards (GFAWA).

Producer Features: Kipster U.S. & Handsome Brook Farms

Kipster and Handsome Brook farm case studies demonstrate the possibility of higher welfare egg laying hens and sustainability for the planet.

Cage-Free Egg Policy

Taking the time to evaluate key components will ensure your company develops an effective and impactful cage-free egg policy.

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