McDonald’s has committed to switch to only serving eggs from cage-free hens at all of its locations in South Africa.
The company, in cooperation with Humane Society International (HSI) , announced the decision on November 14. The transition is expected to be completed by 2025.
Greg Solomon, CEO of McDonald’s South Africa, stated in a HSI press release that its egg supplier has committed to providing a supply of cage free eggs at a rate of more than 10 percent per annum until all of the eggs are cage-free in 2025.
“The move is testament to McDonald’s commitment towards sustainability and food innovations,” Solomon said.
Other cage-free egg commitments from McDonald’s
In September 2015, McDonald’s announced that by 2025, all of the eggs it serves at its restaurants in the U.S. and Canada would be from cage-free farms.
About one year later, Arcos Dorados, the world’s largest franchisee of McDonald’s restaurants, has committed to serving only eggs from cage-free hens at its Latin American restaurants by 2025. Arcos Dorados operates McDonald’s restaurants in Argentina, Aruba, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.
McDonald’s has also taken steps to transition into 100 percent cage-free egg use at its restaurants in New Zealand and Australia. The company had planned to complete the transition in New Zealand before the end of 2016 and in Australia before the end of 2017.
