IKEA Canada Announces Move to Cage-Free Eggs

At IKEA, we want to improve our contribution to a better everyday life through a wider offering of delicious, healthy food that is sustainably produced and well-priced. We trust this latest transition to offering cage-free eggs in all our restaurants will be meaningful to our customers while influencing the advance of animal welfare.

said Danielle Beauchesne, IKEA Canada Country Food Manager.

Why cage-free eggs?

IKEA believes that good animal welfare practices is an important criteria for high quality food products, and offering cage-free eggs is integral to its food offering.

It's good for the people and planet, and also good for business.

Cage-free eggs means the hens are housed in an open concept barn where they can move about freely with nests and perches to lay their eggs. IKEA Canada restaurants also offer chicken on the menu. These chickens are raised on Canadian farms following organic practices, with birds enjoying a diet of non-GMO, pesticide- and herbicide-free grains, with no animal by-products added. These chickens are never treated with antibiotics and, like all chickens raised in Canada, are raised without the use of added hormones.

"We are pleased to support IKEA in their transition to serving only cage-free eggs in their restaurants in Canada. IKEA sets an impressive standard for businesses wanting to give their customers humane and wholesome options. They know that people want food choices that better reflect their core values including sustainability, positive impact, compassion and health. Making the switch to serving only cage-free eggs can deliver that. We applaud IKEA for giving hens in Canada a better life," stated Darren Vanstone, corporate engagement manager for World Animal Protection.

Top 10 facts about the flock, the inner lives of the intelligent and social hen and the real deal on the eggs they lay:

• A big impact: There are 300 million egg laying hens in North America (about 28 million in Canada and the rest in the U.S.) living in small cages
• On most farms: Each hen is forced to live her life in a space smaller than an iPad. She has little room to stretch her wings or turn around
• Be a hero for hens: We have a responsibility to treat the animals who produce our food with respect. Choosing cage-free eggs (organic, free range, free run) gives hens a better life and supports producers and businesses who are doing it right
• What's in a name: Cage-free/free run labels mean the hens who lay those eggs can move freely in a barn and express behaviours like dust bathing; free range labels mean hens may also get access to the outdoors
• A positive trend: Changing consumer attitudes means that leading businesses and chefs are making the switch to cage-free.
• More than Facebook friends: Chickens form complex social relationships and like hanging out with their peers. A hen can recognize and remember up to 100 other chickens and even tell people apart.
• Almost an egg a day: The average hen lays over 300 eggs per year
• A unique family tree: Chickens are the closest living relative to the Tyrannosaurus Rex. And a chicken was the first bird to have its genome sequenced.
• Sweet dreams: Like people, chickens experience REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which enables them to dream (probably about endless fields of worms!)
• A global presence: Humans and chickens have lived together for thousands of years and chickens are one of the few domesticated animals found worldwide.

IKEA is one of Canada's largest restaurants, serving over 9 million visitors a year. That's why it's important for IKEA to serve a variety of healthy and sustainably produced food for everyone to enjoy eating.  IKEA's ongoing commitment to offering good quality food at affordable prices includes announcing in April 2015, its new veggie ball, GRÖNSAKSBULLAR, a good alternative to the popular IKEA meatball, offering tasty pieces of vegetables and a good protein level to support a main meal. Then in September 2015, IKEA announced it would only sell and serve fish and seafood in its stores from sustainable and responsible sources certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). This includes all IKEA salmon from the ASC, and all wild caught fish and shrimp served and sold at IKEA from fisheries independently certified by the MSC.

*Came into effect August 2016. Whole egg products come from shelled eggs