Update on Egg and Pork Commitments

In 2013, we announced our support of a common industry goal to sourcing all fresh pork from systems using group-housing for pregnant sows by 2022, and in 2016 we also announced our support of a common industry goal of sourcing all shell eggs from cage-free systems by 2025.

Since these announcements, we have worked with our suppliers to achieve these date targets. Unfortunately, it has become clear that our farmer partners are unable to meet these timelines.

We are proud of our work to advance against these goals, being the first retailer in North America to implement improved egg labeling signage for consumers, and driving sales of cage-free shell eggs to a 46% peak in some years.

Eggs

We have seen customer purchases fluctuate, with some years as high as 46% cage-free sales and 38% cage-free most recently across Save-On-Foods stores in 2024. This number represents total shell-egg sales for all brands sold in our stores.

We will continue to work with suppliers to source the highest number and quality of cage-free eggs to meet demand. To help our customers choose options that align with their values we are refocusing our egg shelf-labeling in 2024, ensuring correct use, placement, and posting in all of our 187 Save-On-Foods locations. All of our Save-On-Foods locations continue to sell cage-free options.

Pork

We’ve engaged with our suppliers to assess the average crate-free conversion rate, and understand our fresh pork to be 48% crate-free. This is a conservative estimate to adjust for volumes from multiple suppliers.

We reaffirm our support for the common industry goal to transition to 100% crate-free by the end of 2029. Beyond this, we commit to frequently engaging with our suppliers to understand and continue to report on this progress year over year, with the meaningful intent of meeting 100% conversion sooner than 2029.

Chicken

The significant majority of our chicken meets or exceeds the NFACC’s stocking density standards of 31kg/m2, at (a conservative) 95%. We will continue to evaluate and work with our suppliers to reach 100%. 45% of chicken is processed using controlled atmospheric stunning (CAS), and we will work to support and increasingly source from these suppliers in line with the broader industry trend toward CAS processing.

We continue to work with our egg, pork, and chicken supplier partners to make progress on conversions and we will report on the progress we make annually.

For more information visit NFACC codes of practice.