SAFE is congratulating Habitual Fix on their announcement that they have switched away from using cage and barn eggs in all their stores. The move comes after retail giant Foodstuffs made a recent similar commitment across all their stores in New Zealand.
“SAFE has been working with Habitual Fix to achieve this very positive move which sends a clear message to egg producers that there is no market for cage cruelty,” says Mandy Carter, SAFE campaigns director. “Kiwis loathe cage eggs, and it’s great to see businesses recognising this.”
In a statement to SAFE, Tim Benest, founder of Habitual Fix said, “I can confirm now that Habitual Fix eggs are free range across all of our sites. We are continuing to work on the rest of our products.”
Habitual Fix joins other companies, including Wendy’s, Pita Pit, McDonald’s, Burger King and supermarket giants Countdown and Foodstuffs who have either ended their use of cage eggs, or committed to a specific phase-out date. The decision of these NZ food retailers will lead to a drop of around 50 percent of cage egg production.
“Each company that demands cage-free eggs is another voice being heard by the egg producers, telling them there is a bleak future for anyone that wastes money on installing cruel colony cages.” says Ms Carter.
By law, conventional battery cages must be removed by egg producers by 2022. However, the egg industry was set to replace these cages with equally cruel colony cages.
“The tide is turning against cage cruelty. We’ve seen giant leaps forward for hens both here and overseas. The phasing out of cages is part of an international movement, much of it facilitated by animal advocacy groups around the world including members of the Open Wing Alliance, of which SAFE is a partner organisation. We will continue working with other businesses to put an end to the cruelty of fowl colony cages,” added Ms Carter.
