October 20, 2021

Vietnam launches first certified cage-free egg brand

In a press release by Humane Society International (HSI), one of the largest egg suppliers and processing companies in South Vietnam, Vinh Thanh Dat (V.Food), has joined the global cage-free movement last month by launching their first certified cage-free egg brand in the country.

The project will expand in the coming years, with the assistance of HSI.

V.Food has become the first producer and processing company to earn the Certified Humane label in Vietnam, meeting requirements for the health, nutrition and management of cage-free hens under the Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC) standards.

Consumers will soon be able to find V.Food's Cage-free Eggs brand in the largest supermarkets in Ho Chi Minh City. These eggs are packaged in paper boxes, differentiating them from other single-use plastic egg boxes already in the market, a further sign of V.Food's commitment to corporate social responsibility, and to the community and environment.

The two single-floor, cage-free barns in Dong Nai province house 6,000 hens in total, and can bring about 1.5 million cage-free eggs to the market annually. In these barns, hens are free to express their natural behaviour, i.e., dust-bathing in rice husk bedding and resting on elevated perches.

"We hope this new brand of certified cage-free eggs will be supported by consumers even though the pricing is higher at the beginning compared to eggs from caged hens that are already in the market. With consumers' support, the  of hens freed from cages will increase as Vietnam's egg production catches up with the regional cage-free trend," said Truong Chi Thien, V.Food founder and general director.

V.Food joins other egg production companies in Southeast Asia as part of the cage-free movement, including Charoen Pokphand Foods, Betagro of Thailand, San Miguel Corporation and Bounty Fresh of the Philippines. This transition will meet the growing demand for cage-free eggs from the global food and hospitality industry, as a growing number of companies adopt cage-free egg procurement policies as part of their corporate social responsibility goals.