Trader Joe’s, one of the nation's most popular grocery chains, announced its commitment to improving animal welfare in its U.S. supply chain by switching to 100 percent cage-free eggs.





Trader Joe’s says this transition will take place by 2020 in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado and nationally by 2025. While cage-free doesn't mean cruelty-free, this move will spare countless hens a life of suffering in tiny wire battery cages and hopefully inspire other food companies to adopt similar policies.





Stuffed into cages so small the birds can’t walk, spread their wings, or engage in other natural behaviors, hens on egg factory farms are subjected to unspeakable cruelty and neglect. Each bird has less floor space than the size of a sheet of notebook paper.





The new cage-free commitment by Trader Joe’s follows similar announcements by grocers Costco , Target, and BJ’s Wholesale Club, and nearly 100 restaurants, food manufacturers, and foodservice companies.





The policy by Trader Joe's was precipitated in part by discussions with Mercy For Animals and other groups, but was secured by Trader Joe's customer Jessica Duroe Hadley, who gathered more than 85,000 signatures on a Change.org petition . This proves once again that consumers have the power to push companies to make meaningful changes.





It's high time the rest of the food industry, including Safeway , acknowledged that cramming birds into cages barely larger than their bodies is cruel and has no place in a civilized society.





Tell Safeway to stop making life hell for hens by ditching cruel cages and adopting a 100 percent cage-free egg policy with a timeline:

