Here Are the Food Manufacturers That Kept Their Word to Animals—and Those That Didn’t

Actually, the time has passed.

Last year, a promise that hundreds of companies made to consumers came due. Many major food manufacturers set 2025 as the deadline to eliminate battery cages from their US egg supply chains, pledging to source 100% cage-free eggs.

Now that deadline is in the rearview, and a new industry report—our 2026 Eggsposé focusing on food manufacturers—asks the questions consumers are well entitled to ask: Who actually followed through? Who didn’t? Which companies have provided meaningful updates or revised timelines—and which have simply gone quiet?

This year, for the first time, the Eggsposé is breaking its findings into three sector-specific reports, giving food manufacturers their own dedicated scrutiny. The results tell a story that’s largely encouraging, with a shrinking but stubborn group of holdouts proving an increasingly conspicuous minority.

The good news: Most manufacturers have kept their cage-free promises

The report is clear that cage-free sourcing is no longer an aspirational goal for the food manufacturing sector. It’s now standard practice. Major companies including Campbell’s, PepsiCo, and Hershey’s say that every egg they use is now 100% cage-free. Their success demonstrates that large-scale cage-free sourcing is not too costly or too complicated to execute, as some have argued. It’s now been done—repeatedly—by some of the world’s largest food corporations.

That changes the conversation, and reframes the way the laggards should be viewed. As the report puts it, the companies that haven’t acted “are not facing impossible circumstances.” They’re making business decisions. They’re choosing to continue practices that their competitors have already left behind—and that the vast majority of Americans oppose.

Confining a hen to a space smaller than a sheet of paper—where she can’t perch, nest, or even spread her wings—is now opposed by 85% of US adults, recent polling shows. That makes it the single most opposed practice in all of animal agriculture.

Following through has become a trust test

With 2025 cage-free deadlines now behind for much of the industry, the central question has become one of accountability. Remember: Companies voluntarily committed to eliminating battery cages by 2025. Consumers, investors, retailers, and advocacy groups can—and should—reasonably expect them to either meet those commitments or to explain why they didn’t and how they plan to get back on track.

The companies that walk back their pledges, that abandon their public commitments, or that stop reporting their progress risk more than criticism from animal advocates. Now they risk undermining consumer trust and, as the 2026 Eggsposé puts it, “misleading consumers and permitting animal cruelty in their supply chains.”

That matters more in 2026 than it did a decade ago. The food marketplace today is intensely competitive: Consumers choices now include national brands, new “disruptor” brands, fast-food restaurants, convenience stores, private labels, novel meal solutions, and direct-to-consumer offerings. Responsible sourcing has become one more way for companies to differentiate themselves.

For many consumers, sustainability and animal welfare—once viewed as premium extras—have become baseline expectations. Private-label and challenger brands continue gaining market share by competing on both value and values. Which makes consumer trust—already difficult to earn—an increasingly valuable competitive asset.

“It matters a great deal to me that companies follow through to end the cruel suffering of animals in inhumane cages,” says Karen, a consumer in Montana interviewed for the 2026 Eggsposé. “I will not buy from companies that promise to do better but don’t follow through. We pay attention to those matters.”

With affordability issues top of mind for most consumers today, brand loyalty is being reassessed. “With prices continuing to go up,” says Kevin from California, “I only want to spend my money with companies I can trust. I will not buy products from companies that break promises and abuse animals.”

Manufacturers have more options than ever before

One of the biggest developments documented in the 2026 Eggsposé is how dramatically egg-reduction and egg-replacement technologies have advanced.

Over the past several years, commercially available egg alternatives have matured rapidly. At this point they can perform essential functions in virtually all the major categories of manufactured food products: emulsifying sauces and dressings, binding snack bars and processed foods, creating foams, replacing additives in baked goods with enzyme systems, and performing many of the other functional and nutritional roles eggs have traditionally filled.

What’s more, many of these alternatives are clean-label, allergen-free, and better price-stabilized than egg products. That makes reducing or replacing egg ingredients a sound strategy not only for eliminating caged egg use but also for aligning with consumer values and promoting sustainability.

Conagra Brands, PepsiCo, and CJ Schwan’s have all cited egg reformulation and egg reduction as important steps toward achieving their cage-free goals. PepsiCo says it expects to meet some of its global cage-free commitment by reformulating products to incorporate egg-substitute ingredients while transitioning remaining egg ingredients to cage-free sources.

The competitive gap between leaders and laggards is growing

The 2026 Eggsposé also looks at the manufacturers that haven’t kept their own cage-free promises.

Eleven states have now enacted restrictions on battery cages. Ten of them ban the use of battery cages in-state. Sustainability marketed products continue growing much faster than conventionally marketed products. Producers keep expanding cage-free capacity while conventional cage capacity keeps declining. And massive companies such as Campbell’s, PepsiCo, and Hershey’s have demonstrated that reaching 100% cage-free sourcing is truly achievable.

All of which leaves companies that still source caged eggs in an increasingly untenable position, more and more isolated as their competitors move ahead. With responsible sourcing a competitive advantage In today’s hypercompetitive marketplace, consumers are comparing brands not just on price and quality but also on whether they honor the commitments they’ve publicly made.

As Tim Wall, a senior reporter at WATT Global Media, recently observed: “Both academic research and industry discussion have pointed out that animal welfare may be one of the strongest marketing tools to influence consumer behavior.”

The industry’s defining question is no longer whether cage-free sourcing at scale is possible

In 2026, that question has been answered. The question that remains today is whether companies that missed their own public deadlines will explain why and correct course. Will they take action to align with consumers’ values? Or do nothing and fall further out of step?

Leading manufacturers have now demonstrated that 100% cage-free goals are achievable. The 2026 Eggsposé projects that half of all hens in the United States will be living cage-free by 2027. The companies that continue to delay their cage-free transitions are making increasingly visible—and controversial—choices about the kind of businesses they want to be. And consumers are making increasingly informed choices about which brands they want to support.