1.6 million eggs recalled, contaminated
Midwest Poultry Services issued a recall for nearly 1.6 million dozen white and brown cage-free eggs due to potential salmonella contamination.
- Kroger has not fulfilled its 2016 promise to transition to a 100% cage-free egg supply by 2025.
- The company quietly revised its goal to transitioning 70% of its egg supply to cage-free by 2030.
- Kroger cited the current rate of industry progress and consumer desire for affordability as reasons for the change.
- This follows a similar pattern where Kroger also extended its timeline to phase out single-use plastic bags.
More than a decade ago, Kroger promised shoppers it would transition to “a 100% cage-free egg supply chain by 2025.”
As of July 2026, that promise remains unfilled.
In March 2016, the Cincinnati-based grocery giant announced its intent to move its egg supply to cage-free, noting its customers were choosing at an “increasing rate” the eggs laid by hens housed indoors with unlimited access to food, water and freedom to roam. The original announcement followed a campaign by animal cruelty activists against the national grocer and came at a time when 85% of the eggs sold at Kroger came from hens confined in cages, The Courier Journal previously reported as part of the USA TODAY Network.
However, in a 2022 corporate report reviewed by The Courier Journal, Kroger quietly shared a revised goal — giving the grocer until 2030 to get 70% of its egg supply to cage-free status.
Kent Stein, corporate policy specialist for farm animal protection at Humane World for Animals, a global animal rights nonprofit, said the “backtracked” promise by Kroger “stands in contrast to so many grocery retailers, including Amazon, Costco, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Circle K, Trader Joe’s and more, that have already achieved their 100% cage-free goals or established concrete plans to soon stop selling eggs from producers that keep hens confined in cages.”
On July 9, at the grand opening for the new Kroger in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, the activist group had a mobile billboard on display at the gas station across the street from the store that said, “Kroger’s eggs are gross” and depicted footage of hens in cages.
When asked about Kroger’s commitment to a cage-free egg transition, a Kroger spokesperson said, “I don’t really have a comment on that.”
Here’s what to know about Kroger’s transition to cage-free eggs:
Kroger backs off egg transition goal
Since the grocery company initially announced its goal of 100% cage-free eggs in stores by 2025, its tracked progress toward this goal in its annual Environmental, Social, and Governance Report, which publicly discloses company data for the prior year on environmental impact, social responsibility and corporate governance.
A Courier Journal analysis of Kroger’s ESG Reports found that from 2016-21, the company reported it was “on track” or making its transition to cage-free eggs an “area of focus.”
But in the ESG report published by Kroger in 2022, tucked near the bottom of the 68-page document, the grocer provides an “updated goal” that stated, “Given the current rate of industry progress and consumers’ desire for affordability, we do not expect to achieve our 2025 commitment. Kroger anticipates transitioning about 70% of eggs sold (by units) to cage-free or higher-welfare standards by 2030.”
“Kroger’s goal revision is unacceptable,” Stein said. “A target of 70% cage-free eggs by 2030 is a lackluster mark showing no ambition, as it’s virtually already in line with our country’s status quo.”
The ESG Reports show that the transition to cage-free comes at a hefty cost for the grocer, with Kroger reporting it “anticipates investing about $45 million to support this roadmap to 2030.”
“Kroger’s claims about cage-free egg prices don’t carry weight,” Stein said. “Hundreds of other cost-conscious companies like Amazon, Costco, McDonald’s and so many more have already made the change to cage-free. Kroger had more than 10 years to prepare for and fulfill its animal welfare commitment. Instead, it took the route of allowing animals to suffer horrifically while breaking its promise to the public.”
Kroger reported that for the full year of 2022, cage-free eggs represented roughly 32% of total egg revenue across the company, a stark decrease from the nearly 46% of total egg revenue it accounted for in 2021.
By 2023, the total egg revenue from cage-free eggs rebounded to almost 52%. This uptick in revenue from cage-free eggs came at a point when Kroger’s units of eggs sourced from cage-free hens “held steady” with its 2022 rate of 33%. In 2023, Kroger stated it was once again “on track” for its new supply transition goal.
Kroger’s most recently published ESG report reflecting progress in 2024 stated the company saw 56% of total egg revenue from cage-free eggs and bolstered its units of cage-free eggs to 43%. The company noted this progress “exceeded” its revamped goal for 2024.
Single use plastic bags at Kroger
The total transition to cage-free eggs by 2025 isn’t the only broken promise from Kroger.
In 2018, Kroger announced it would phase out “use-once, throw-it-away plastic bags” and transition to reusable bags by 2025. However, this company goal also had its timeline quietly extended, The Courier Journal reported in January.
“We originally aimed to achieve our bag-reduction goal in 2025; however, due to our current rate of progress, the high cost of all-paper bags to both our business and the planet, our customers’ feedback from multiple pilots across the country, and an anticipated slowdown in legislative action, we are extending our timeline for phasing out single-use plastic bags,” a document provided by Kroger to The Courier Journal stated.
While Kroger has not yet publicized a new target date for completing its transition away from single-use plastic bags, the company previously said it remained confident it would be able to achieve this goal despite “significant setbacks” to its progress from the COVID-19 pandemic, during which it suspended its bag-related projects.
The company reported that by the end of 2024, more than “700 Kroger-operated stores stopped providing single-use plastic shopping bags for our customers, switching to paper or multi-use plastic bags as alternatives, depending on state requirements or local bag ordinances.” And as of January, no Kentucky Kroger locations had made the switch.
Contact Business Reporter Olivia Evans at oevans@usatodayco.com or on X at @oliviamevans_.