October 19, 2007

UK supermarket chain to use only free range eggs by end-2008

UK supermarket chain Waitrose has announced a complete switch to free-range eggs.

This meant that wherever egg is used as an ingredient in any Waitrose product, it will be free range by the end of 2008.

Waitrose has solid green credentials in the UK food market. Although it accounts for just 4 percent of the food market overall, it has 16 percent of the organic food market.

Less than 5 of the egg in Waitrose products remains to be converted to free range. With the end in sight, the retailer has now set a date of the end of 2008 for this work to be completed.

Completion of this final phase is extremely important as it builds on the high standards of animal welfare for which Waitrose is renowned, said Head of Meat Buying, Heather Jenkins.