Farms.com Home   Ag Industry News

McDonald’s to begin using cage-free eggs

By 2025, all restaurants in Canada and USA will use cage-free eggs

By Diego Flammini, Farms.com

As consumer demands continue to change and get louder, businesses in all sectors have to adapt or they risk losing potential revenues.

Fast food chain McDonald’s understands this and decided to transition to cage-free eggs in its Canadian and American restaurants – about 16,000 of them, by 2025.

Eggs

“Our customers are increasingly interested in knowing more about their food and where it comes from,” said McDonald’s USA President Mike Andres in a release.  “Our decision to source only cage-free eggs reinforces the focus we place on food quality and our menu to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations.

On average, McDonald’s USA buys about two billion eggs annually while McDonald’s Canada purchases about 120 million eggs each year to use on their breakfast menu. Since 2011, McDonald’s USA has purchased more than 13 million cage-free eggs each year.

“We’re proud of the work we’re doing with farmers and suppliers to advance environmentally and socially conscious practices for the animals in our supply chain,” said Marion Gross, senior vice president and Chief Supply Chain Officer of McDonald’s North America in a press release.  “This is a bold move and we’re confident in our ability to provide a quality, safe, and consistent supply.”

The announcement to use cage-free eggs comes after McDonald’s announced that by 2017 the company would only use chicken that’s raised without antibiotics important to human medicine and to offer jugs of low-fat white milk and fat-free chocolate milk from cows that haven’t been treated with the growth hormone rbST.

Join the conversation and tell us, as a poultry farmer, how you feel about McDonald’s making the transition to use cage-free eggs.


Trending Video

Dr. Jay Johnson: Bioenergetics of Heat Stress in Sows

Video: Dr. Jay Johnson: Bioenergetics of Heat Stress in Sows

The Swine Health Blackbelt Podcast, Dr. Jay Johnson from the University of Missouri explores the bioenergetics of heat stress in gestating sows and how it affects growth and fat deposition. He discusses energy partitioning, thermoregulation, and genetic strategies to improve thermal tolerance without compromising productivity. Listen now on all major platforms!

"Gestating sows under heat stress grow faster than those in thermoneutral conditions, with much of that growth going into backfat."

Meet the guest: Dr. Jay Johnson earned his Ph.D. from Iowa State University and is now an Associate Professor of Animal Welfare and Stress Physiology at the University of Missouri. His research focuses on heat stress, swine productivity, and practical welfare innovations through physiology and genomics.