Dollar General announced that it will not be able to meet its previously set commitment to sourcing 100% cage-free eggs by 2025, and that it will not be setting a new goal.
In a statement it made on December 8th, 2023, Dollar General explained that in its original 2016 pledge, the transition was subject to available supply, affordability and customer demand.
According to the company, it will not meet the commitment due to the current macroeconomic environment, state of the U.S. egg industry and the needs of its customers who are unable, or unwilling, to pay a higher price for cage-free eggs when there is a lower priced alternative available.
Dollar General management stated: “Customer needs and preferences for lower-priced conventional eggs versus higher priced cage-free eggs, as well as supply availability for cage-free eggs, remain significant considerations. While we are hopeful that, with the passage of time, the price of cage-free in-shell eggs will decline so that cage-free eggs become a viable, equally affordable option, our responsibility remains oriented towards our customers and our shareholders.”
“As a result, we are withdrawing our cage-free egg goal and do not believe it is in our customers’ or shareholders’ best interests at this time to establish a new goal.”
Other companies withdrawing pledges for similar reasons
As 2025 draws closer, many U.S. companies have started to change their animal welfare commitment statements to reflect a later deadline, or even explain that they may never reach 100% cage-free sourcing.
In October 2022, grocery store chains Walmart and Kroger announced they would not be able to meet their 100% cage-free egg sourcing commitments by 2025. Both companies made the original commitments in 2016.
In their statements, the grocers acknowledged the supply issues, the cost of production and the strain that grocer cage-free pledges have put on U.S. egg producers to transition faster than they are able.
