Ferrero calls on the EU to "End the Cage Age"

The Ferrero Group, building on its commitment to 100% cage free eggs, joins other food companies across the EU in sending a letter to the EU Commission and Members of the EU Parliament: they call for a phase out in the use of cages in animal farming, starting with laying hens.

The letter commends the aims of the ‘End the Cage Age’ European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) which calls for the end of cages in animal farming across the EU. Compassion in World Farming joined forces with 170 European NGOs and launched the ‘End the Cage Age’ ECI on 11 September 2018. A year later it closed having gained 1.4 million verified signatures and becoming the first successful ECI on farmed animal welfare. Across the EU, over 300 million farmed animals are confined in cages every year.

Ferrero, together with ALDI Nord (retailer), Barilla Group, Fattoria Roberti (egg producer), IKEA (retailer), Jamie Oliver Group, Le Groupement Les Mousquetaires (retailer), Mondelēz International, Nestlé, and Unilever co-signed the letter which emphasises that the business case for phasing out cages for laying hens is strong, particularly at EU level. It notes that “cage-free systems are widespread, economically viable, and provide better living conditions for hens”. 

The signatories stressed that the revision of the animal welfare legislation, which is currently under preparation, is the ideal opportunity to end the use of cages in animal farming across the EU - starting with caged laying hens. They also stated that they are ready and willing to share their expertise and collaborate on achieving that goal.

For Ferrero, animal welfare is an important principle of our ethical sourcing initiatives. One of our main objectives is to ensure the progressive improvement of animal welfare standards within the supply chains of animal origin products, and we are already committed to sourcing eggs from cage-free systems for our global supply chain.

Ferrero reached its objective of using 100% cage-free eggs in the EU already in 2014, and our European egg supply chains accounts for 95% of all the eggs we use globally.

Our current commitment is to source only cage-free eggs and egg ingredients globally by 2025.