Nearly a decade after Canada’s largest grocery chains pledged to go fully cage-free by 2025, a new report from Mercy For Animals reveals that the country’s major retailers have largely failed to deliver on their promises. The findings, outlined in Beyond the Commitment: Evaluating Cage-Free Progress Across the Canadian Retail Sector, show that none of the top grocers assessed have met their targets or published a detailed plan to do so.
In 2016, members of the Retail Council of Canada (RCC) including Loblaw, Sobeys, Metro, and Costco, committed to transitioning to 100% cage-free eggs by the end of 2025. The collective pledge aligned with a global movement toward higher animal welfare standards and was presented as a milestone moment for Canadian retail. However, in the years that followed, the sector’s progress slowed dramatically.
The turning point came in 2017, when the National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC), a body dominated by agricultural industry interests, released new codes of practice endorsing “enriched” battery cages as acceptable alternatives. These modified cages offered slightly more space than conventional ones but continued to confine hens, limiting their ability to engage in natural behaviours such as foraging or stretching.
Following the release of those codes, egg producers began shifting to enriched systems, and many retailers quietly weakened or abandoned their cage-free goals, according to Mercy for Animals.
Report Findings Reveal Widespread Inaction
Mercy For Animals’ new assessment ranks 16 of Canada’s largest grocery retailers on a 200-point scale measuring policy strength, progress, and transparency. The report also awards bonus points for publishing a public roadmap and penalizes companies for promoting enriched battery cages. The results paint a bleak picture for Canada:
- No major retailer has met its 2025 cage-free goal.
- Eight companies, including Sobeys, Loblaws, and Costco, received failing grades.
- Costco, which is 97% cage-free in the United States, reports only 21.3% in Canada.
- Loblaws sits at 16% cage-free, far short of its 100% pledge.
- Sobeys has made virtually no progress in four years, maintaining just 17% to 18% cage-free sourcing.
Other brands receiving failing grades include Farm Boy, Calgary Co-op, IGA, Safeway, Nesters Market, and Natures Fare Markets, each scoring zero points. Only a handful of retailers achieved moderate or strong results:
- Whole Foods Market earned an A (200 points), reflecting its complete commitment to cage-free sourcing.
- Save-On-Foods and Couche-Tard each received a C, with 68 and 60 points respectively — the highest scores among traditional Canadian grocers.
The Cost Barrier Debate
Many retailers cite cost as a barrier to meeting their cage-free commitments. Yet, according to U.S.-based research referenced in the report, producing cage-free eggs costs only 19 cents more per dozen. Despite this, Canadian consumers often pay significantly higher premiums at the checkout for cage-free options.
Financially, the nation’s leading grocery corporations earn billions annually. The report highlights annual revenues of Loblaws ($61.14 billion), Costco ($34.87 billion), Empire Company, parent of Sobeys, Safeway, and Farm Boy, ($30.7 billion), and Metro ($21.84 billion).
Mercy For Animals argues that these figures demonstrate the issue is not about affordability but about priority. “Their revenues show that the cost of cage-free eggs is a matter of priority, not a barrier,” the organization states.
The Enriched Cage Myth
The new data underscore a wider misconception about so-called “enriched” cages, according to the group. These systems, despite being marketed as a humane alternative, offer minimal improvements over conventional cages, they say.
A typical enriched cage provides 116 square inches of space per bird, about the size of a microwave oven. By comparison, traditional cages allot just 67 square inches, being roughly the area of a toaster.
This marginal difference still confines hens in crowded environments, where they cannot walk freely or perform basic behaviours such as dustbathing or stretching. The promotion of enriched cages has stalled what advocates describe as meaningful welfare progress.
“Enriched cages are essentially repackaged battery cages — only slightly larger and offering minimal enrichments,” the report notes. “Their promotion as a ‘humane alternative’ has stalled meaningful welfare progress.”
Canada Lags Behind Global Peers
The Mercy For Animals findings place Canada well behind other major markets in cage-free adoption. According to the report:
- United Kingdom: 82% of egg production is cage-free.
- European Union: 62% cage-free.
- United States: 45% cage-free.
- Canada: only 20% cage-free.
While international peers have largely met or are nearing full transition, Canada’s pace has been slowed by policy loopholes and a lack of retail leadership, according to the group. Between 2016 and 2024, the proportion of hens housed in enriched cages rose by 29 percentage points, while the share of cage-free hens increased just 10 points.
Mercy For Animals says this data reflects a decade of stagnation, with the NFACC’s endorsement of enriched cages and the RCC’s withdrawal from leadership contributing to Canada’s slow progress.
Retail Transparency and Accountability
With only two months remaining before the December 31, 2025, deadline, Mercy For Animals is calling for urgent transparency and renewed action. The organization urges retailers to publicly recommit to their 2016 cage-free pledges and publish detailed roadmaps outlining how they will achieve them.
The group emphasizes that multinational retailers can play a decisive role in transforming supply chains. Costco’s stark disparity, with 97 percent cage-free eggs in the United States compared to 21 percent in Canada, illustrates how corporate decisions and national policy frameworks can either drive or delay progress.
“Canadian retailers must end delays, be fully transparent, and take meaningful action,” Mercy For Animals concludes. “The report demands that retailers honour their 100% cage-free commitments and publish clear roadmaps for fulfilling them.”
