Ashley Chang
In a victory for egg-laying hens, two drugstore powerhouses commit to ending the use of cages nationwide years ahead of schedule.
In response to consumer demand for cage-free eggs, both CVS and Walgreens announced new, accelerated timelines for going 100% cage-free.
This spring, CVS made enormous progress for egg-laying hens across the country. Seven years ago—back in 2015—CVS announced that it would source 100% cage-free eggs across its retail chain by 2025. This April, following consultation with The Humane League (THL), the drugstore announced that it would accelerate its progress towards this goal and complete its cage-free transition faster than originally planned. Now, the drugstore giant will go cage-free across its 9,900 retail locations by the end of 2022—three years ahead of schedule.
“We applaud CVS for recognizing that they could switch to cage-free eggs much quicker than anticipated,” says Vicky Bond, President of THL, “and taking that significant step to reduce the suffering of egg-laying hens as soon as possible.”
By agreeing to leave cages behind, and proactively working against deadlines, CVS stands out as an industry leader on animal welfare. In the wake of its move to eliminate cages from its supply chains by the end of 2022, and in response to pressure from consumers and animal advocates, its competitor Walgreens also announced an update to its 2016 policy to go cage-free nationwide by 2025. Like CVS, Walgreens will commit to going 100% cage-free by year-end 2022. Its decision to eliminate cages is an important sign of progress for egg-laying hens and demonstrates that the momentum to create change for animals is real.
Thanks to the work of advocates all over the country, a cage-free future is coming. This move by CVS and Walgreens to abandon the extreme confinement of egg-laying hens by the end of 2022 is proof that more and more corporations with the power to improve animal welfare are actually following through. Industry peers like Rite Aid have a responsibility to do the same and go 100% cage-free.
Cage-free eggs at CVS
CVS Health is currently one of the most powerful corporations in the United States. With 9,900 retail locations across the US, in over 3,000 different cities, CVS is the seventh-largest retailer in the country. CVS employs over 300,000 workers and, in 2021, made over $292 billion in revenue. The corporation is ranked fourth on the Fortune 500 list for 2021, after Walmart, Amazon, and Apple.
In its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report, published annually in the spring, CVS announced that it would accelerate progress towards its commitment to sell only cage-free eggs by year-end. “In the last couple of years,” CVS reports, “as the supply chain and offering of these eggs has increased and consumer choice has evolved, we made the decision to accelerate that goal.” Its “biggest priority,” it says, is to “ensure continued access to healthy foods at an affordable price,” and by working with suppliers to source a wider selection of cage-free and free-range eggs, it will be able to satisfy consumers and protect animals from extreme confinement.
The company’s decision to accelerate its cage-free progress is momentous, not only for the hens in its own supply chain, but also for the shockwaves it sends across the retail sector, prompting competitors like Walgreens to keep up or risk falling behind.
Cage-free eggs at Walgreens
Another heavyweight in the retail pharmacy space, Walgreens operates more than 13,000 stores in over nine countries across the US, Europe, and Latin America through Walgreens Boots Alliance. In 2021, Walgreens made over $132.5 billion in revenue in the US alone. It’s ranked sixteenth on the Fortune 500 list for 2021.
In late April, Walgreens issued an update to its 2016 US cage-free commitment, announcing that it—like CVS—would offer 100% cage-free eggs on an accelerated timeline, by 2022 instead of 2025. This landmark move came about because compassionate consumers demanded better for the egg-laying hens in Walgreens’ supply chain. After CVS announced its faster timeline, thousands of advocates spoke up on social media and reached out to Walgreens to ask when it would follow suit.
Walgreens currently offers cage-free egg options at more than 900 stores, and because it recognized that “customers' preferences are changing with improved customer access to sustainable and ethically sourced products in local communities,” it decided to move more quickly to eliminate cages entirely. “Through a dedicated commitment to advancing conversations with suppliers,” Walgreens reports, “we’re happy to announce that we’re accelerating our commitment to provide 100 percent cage-free shell and liquid eggs in stores nationwide by the end of this year, based on available supply.”
Cage-free eggs are better—here’s why
The US food industry currently relies on 381 million who lay billions of eggs every single year. The vast majority of these birds—215 million of them—live in so-called “battery cages.”
Battery cages are one of the cruelest forms of confinement in factory farming. Designed to maximize the number of hens in egg production, battery cages can hold anywhere between four and ten birds, limiting the hens to a small space the size of a filing cabinet drawer. In other words, each hen has less than a single square foot to herself—floorspace no bigger than a sheet of paper. Trapped in these cages, hens can’t stand up straight or spread their wings without hitting the side of the cage or another bird. Bred to lay hundreds of eggs per year—far more eggs than they'd naturally lay—these chickens spend their entire lives in intense confinement, enduring incredible tolls to their physical and mental health. Egg-laying facilities are dim, loud, and dirty. The cages receive cleaning so infrequently that some birds die and are left there to decompose.
Battery cages are an industry standard—but cage-free housing systems are fast becoming best practice. In these environments, the birds are still confined—but they have more space, as well as enrichments like litter and natural light that allow them to express their natural behaviors, from dust-bathing to nesting to perching. Our work won’t be over until we completely end the abuse of animals trapped on factory farms. But by advocating for the elimination of battery cages in animal agriculture, we can make concrete and meaningful progress for the chickens in our food system right now. When companies go cage-free, they reduce the number of hens who live—and suffer—in extreme confinement.
What you can do
Food corporations have the power to protect animals. It’s what consumers want. Together, we can advocate for the animals in our food system by letting these companies know: they need to do better. Will you join us in the fight to drive real change for animals?
