SÃO PAULO—Makro Atacadista, a major wholesaler, has announced it will only sell cage-free eggs at its locations throughout Brazil. Makro operates 68 stores in the country and will complete its transition to cage-free eggs by 2025 for Makro-brand eggs and by 2028 for all other brands sold in its stores. This announcement comes after many years of working with Humane Society International/Brazil, one of the largest global animal protection organizations. Makro and HSI will continue to work together on the implementation of this policy.
Maria Fernanda Martin, HSI/Brazil’s corporate policy and program manager for farm animal welfare, said: “We congratulate Makro for joining hundreds of food companies in Brazil and around the world in committing to source only cage-free eggs. By adopting cage-free egg policies, companies are meeting the growing global consumer demand for higher welfare products and generating change in the egg industry. We look forward to working with Makro on this important transition and invite other companies to join this global corporate social responsibility movement.”
This commitment will improve the lives of millions of laying hens in Brazil. Egg-laying hens are typically confined for their whole lives in wire battery cages so small that the hens cannot even fully stretch their wings. Cage-free systems generally offer higher animal welfare compared to caged systems, providing the animals with enough room to walk around and engage in their important natural behaviors such as laying their eggs in nests, foraging, perching and dustbathing.
Makro joins other food corporations that have committed to switching to exclusively cage-free eggs in Brazil and throughout Latin America, including Unilever, which has committed to a global cage-free egg supply chain by 2025, and Nestlé, the largest food company in the world, which has also committed to switching to cage-free eggs by 2025. After working with HSI, Burger King and Arcos Dorados, which operates McDonald’s in Brazil and 19 other countries in the region, committed to switching to 100% cage-free eggs, as did other restaurant operators, accounting for thousands of restaurants in Brazil and Latin America.
Compass Group (GRSA) and Sodexo have previously announced their commitment to a global cage-free policy in partnership with HSI. Alsea, the largest restaurant operator in Latin America and Spain, and Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest bakery company, announced their cage-free egg policies after several years of engaging with HSI specialists. Corporations like Kraft-Heinz, International Meal Company (IMC), Cargill, Brazil Fast Food Corporation (BFFC), Subway, Intercontinental Hotels Group, AccorHotels, Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide, Giraffas, Barilla, Divino Fogão, Habib’s, Grupo CRM, Bauducco and Grupo LemosPassos have also pledged to go cage-free in Brazil.
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Media contact: Maria Fernanda Martin, +55 (11) 9 57709922, mfmartin@hsi.org