Kraft Heinz commits to cage-egg free policy

Kraft Heinz Company, the world’s fifth-largest food and beverage company, has announced its commitment to eliminate cage eggs from its supply chain globally by 2025. The announcement is the result  of extensive conversations with The Humane League and The Open Wing  Alliance, a global coalition of animal protection groups launched in  2016, which SAFE is a part of.

Kraft Heinz is the fifth-largest food company in the world, operating  in more than 25 countries. In New Zealand Heinz Watties are part of The  Kraft Heinz company. Some Heinz Watties products that contain eggs  include mayonnaise and ravioli. The policy will collectively affect all  products sold by Kraft Heinz’s brands.

By law, conventional battery cages must be removed by egg producers  by 2022 in New Zealand. However, the egg industry was set to replace  these cages with equally cruel colony cages. Egg-laying hens are crammed  into wire cages and are only given space about the size of an iPad on  which to live their entire lives. The cages prevent hens from exercising  many of their natural behaviours including fully stretching their wings  and dustbathing.

“SAFE is delighted to have been a part of another positive win for  hens,” says Campaigns Director Mandy Carter. “The Open Wing Alliance’s  work is so important and we’re pleased to be working together with other  organisations to create a better world for animals.”

The Open Wing Alliance is a global coalition of animal protection  organisations focused on creating unified action to eradicate cages from  egg industries worldwide. The alliance was founded in 2016 by The  Humane League and presently has more than 40 member organisations from  nations in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South  America. In February 2017, Open Wing Alliance hosted the inaugural Global Summit to End Cages and launched the largest international cage-free campaign in history.

Kraft Heinz joins many other companies in  New Zealand, including other food manufacturers such as Pepsico,  Mondelez, Kellogg’s and General Mills who have either ended their use of  cage eggs or committed to a specific phase-out date. In 2017  supermarket giants Countdown and Foodstuffs committed to cage-egg free.

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