H-E-B moves toward selling only cage-free eggs by 2025

Cage-free chickens walk in a fenced pasture on the Francis Blake organic farm near Waukon, Iowa. H-E-B is joining other grocers in phasing out eggs from suppliers that keep their chickens couped up. Cage-free chickens walk in a fenced pasture on the Francis Blake organic farm near Waukon, Iowa. H-E-B is joining other grocers in phasing out eggs from suppliers that keep their chickens couped up. Photo: Charlie Neibergall /Associated Press Photo: Charlie Neibergall /Associated Press Image 1 of / 41 Caption Close H-E-B moves toward selling only cage-free eggs by 2025 1 / 41 Back to Gallery

H-E-B is joined the growing number of major U.S. grocery chains that are moving toward selling only cage-free eggs — eventually.

The San Antonio-based grocery chain quietly announced last week that it is working toward selling only cage-free eggs by 2025. It’s following the lead of competitors such as Brookshire’s, Kroger and Walmart, which announced two weeks ago that it also plans to make the transition by 2025.

“H‑E‑B will continue to work closely with suppliers to move toward 100% cage‑free eggs by 2025, provided we have adequate supply, sufficient consumer demand and pricing is affordable for our customers,” the San Antonio-based company said in a posting on its website Friday.

Animal rights groups such as Mercy for Animals and the Humane Society of the United States have been pressuring H-E-B to switch to cage-free eggs only. Cage-free eggs have also grown in popularity in recent years amid growing public concern over antibiotic use in commercial egg production as well as increasing distaste for the living conditions of hens highlighted in documentaries like the 2005 film Earthlings.

H-E-B’s policy on its egg suppliers has been under review for at least seven years as consumers increasingly demanded cage-free eggs, H-E-B spokeswoman Dya Campos said.

“The movement of the industry toward cage free eggs has been a huge discussion among all retailers for years,” Campos said. “All of these changes have been the result of years of discussions.”

Maintaining the affordability of eggs is a priority for the grocer, however, and cage-free eggs are generally more expensive than standard eggs, she said.

The lowest priced generic cage-free carton of eggs sells for about 70 cents more than H-E-B’s lowest-priced conventional eggs, she said. But the cost can vary widely depending on the brand. A carton of Hill Country Fare Grade A Medium eggs at the Olmos Park H-E-B cost $1.47 while a dozen Texas Chicken Ranch Pasture-Raised Cage Free Eggs go for $5.95, according to the company’s web site.

“We made the commitment to study this and move in this direction by 2025 as long as it doesn’t impact the affordability of eggs for Texans,” she said. Eggs are an important source of protein for many families, and some food assistance programs, like the Women, Infants and Children program, or WIC, don’t cover the cost of cage-free eggs in Texas, she said.

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The Humane Society notified the company that it planned to run an ad today in H-E-B’s hometown newspaper, the Express-News, criticizing the company’s practices, said Matthew Prescott, the organization’s senior director of food policy. The ad, which didn’t run, called the company “one of the only major grocery chains in America that’s allowing its egg suppliers to continue locking chickens in cages indefinitely.”

Mercy for Animals, which is based in Los Angeles, also ran ads on Facebook criticizing H-E-B’s egg policy, handed out leaflets in front of the chain’s stores in the U.S. in Mexico and started a petition on Change.org.

“Our hope is they are able to do this as soon as possible — and if they are able to beat that deadline, that’s great,” said Jaya Bhumitra, director of corporate outreach at Mercy for Animals.

Company executives never met with either group, Campos said, adding that the policy change wasn’t a result of their campaigns.

“The change of the wording on our web site has nothing to do with this group,” she said. “They probably took notice to that yesterday and are trying to take credit for it today.”

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On Tuesday, the Humane Society ran an ad in the Dallas Morning-News thanking H-E-B for its policy change.

“I think H-E-B saw the writing on the wall that this is the direction of the grocery industry,” Prescott said. “H-E-B is certainly setting more caveats than their competitors are, but they’re making it clear that their policy is to move toward cage-free eggs.”

Most major grocery chains have committed to selling cage-free eggs only at this point. One of the last major holdouts is the Florida-based Publix chain.

H-E-B’s web site says it is the largest seller of cage-free eggs in Texas.

“We recognize that the transition costs for our egg farmers to migrate to cage‑free systems are significant and will require time to implement,” the company says on its website.

rwebner@express-news.net

@rwebner