2024
SURVEY FINDINGS
RESULTS PER TIER
The progress reported on the survey was used to rank the companies into tiers ranging from A to D. It’s important to note that Sinergia Animal does not conduct audits of companies' reported progress. The figures mentioned here are based on the information provided by the respective companies.
A
TIER
70 companies in Asia or Asian countries have fully transitioned to sourcing 100% cage-free eggs. Most of these companies were not contacted for this year’s survey as they fully transitioned in previous years, but we’d still like to acknowledge their achievements!
Exceptions are Groupe Le Duff, which reported a complete transition in Asia this year; Pizza Express, which reported 100% in Indonesia last year but not in India; and Subway Indonesia, which announced their 100% cage-free status at the time of their commitment.
B
TIER
27 companies have committed with a clear timeline and have shared progress on implementing their cage-free policy in Asia or nationally. Progress can range from 0% to 99%.
C
TIER
36 companies have cage-free egg commitments and have shared some cage-free progress but lack progress information regionally or nationally.
*
*Starbucks’ cage-free commitment applies to company-operated stores only. In Asia, that only includes branches in Japan and China.
D
TIER
14 companies have cage-free commitments but lack any form of reporting about their progress globally, regionally, or nationally.
*
*Subway, at the time of this report, does not report progress and does not have a commitment for India, Indonesia, and Japan.
OTHER SURVEY FINDINGS
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According to their commitments this year, Subway (Indonesia) and Groupe Le Duff have successfully transitioned to 100% cage-free eggs. This places them in Tier A with 68 other companies, including Danone, Barilla Group, and Marks and Spencer. 70 companies are on Tier A this year, compared to 56 in 2023 and 22 in 2022.
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27 companies (an increase from 20 last year) are classified in Tier B, with significant advancements observed from Club Med, Kempinski, and Sodexo.
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In Tier C, 36 companies (an increase from 31 last year) are committed to cage-free eggs, with notable progress from Le Pain Quotidien.
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In Tier D, 14 companies (up from 13 last year) are included, with several companies that did not report previously now providing their data this year, including Aman, Meliá Hotels, Le Pain Quotidien, and Subway (Indonesia).
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Sinergia Animal urges the brands listed in Tier D with a 2025 deadline—Au Bon Pain, Best Western, Chatrium, Food Passion, Groupe Savencia, Illy, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, Pierre Hermé, REWE, and Subway—to align with their competitors’ progress and fully adhere to their cage-free policies.
OTHER KEY DATA
The sector with the highest number of companies evaluated in this report was restaurants and cafes, accounting for 29 of the cage-free commitments. The hotels and hospitality sector and manufacturers took the second and third positions, with 28 and 11 companies respectively. Food service providers are in the fourth position with 6 companies, followed by retailers with 4 companies.
CHALLENGES
Some of the most frequent reasons mentioned regarding roadblocks that can prevent companies from switching to cage-free were:
Supply chain disruptions: Avian flu continues to impact egg sources and availability globally, affecting the availability of cage-free egg products in certain markets, including Japan and China. The Covid-19 pandemic has also been mentioned as having affected the supply chain, operations, and product availability.
Higher cost of cage-free eggs compared to battery cages ones, and unwillingness of consumers to pay the extra price.
Limited suppliers with cage-free certification.
Data Collecting and consolidating egg usage data from various partners operating in diverse geographic regions can pose challenges in calculating a global average for progress.
The increase of feedstock costs:
farmers have been reluctant to invest in new farms due to high uncertainty in the market.