Eggs from caged chickens will no longer be on sale in Morrisons.
Morrisons has become the first of the 'big six' major supermarkets to go free-range only with its egg selection. . From now on, only free range eggs, from chickens who can spend at least eight hours a day outdoors will be on sale in Morrisons stores. Chickens who lay eggs sold in Morrisons must also have access to nest boxes with wide perches and spaces for scratching and dust bathing, the supermarket says.
Morrisons sells more than 10 million eggs a week, around a fifth of which were from caged eggs. The supermarket is also dropping the price of a pack of six free range eggs from 80p to 75p to make them even more affordable.
Morrisons originally committed to move away from caged eggs by 2025 after listening to a consumer campaign spearheaded by teenager Lucy Gavaghan in 2016. But the business has managed to go 100% free range five years earlier than initially planned, after doubling the number of free-range suppliers. Rivals including Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco still stock eggs from hens who are not raised in a free range environment.
Robert Hofmann, Morrisons Egg Buyer, said:“Improving animal welfare is very important to customers and it’s very important to us. We source our eggs directly from farms and have worked hard to help them all move to free range."
“From today, all our eggs will come from free-range hens that are able to roam freely outdoors – typically during daylight hours - and then return to nest boxes in the evening.”
Dr Tracey Jones, Director of Food Business at Compassion in World Farming, says: “It’s great to see Morrisons achieving their commitment to be 100% free range on shell eggs ahead of their 2022 target. Momentum on ending the use of cages for laying hens is growing and Morrisons are leading the way. Importantly, they also have a 2025 cage-free commitment on the eggs that go into processed and ingredient foods.”
In 2018 Morrisons introduced a popular Pick Your Own Eggs service enabling customers to choose and pack their own free-range eggs in recycled boxes – choosing from one single egg to a tray of 30.
