Confusion over cage-free egg pledges continues

It’s been said and blogged before that many, if not all, of the cage-free purchase pledges made by restaurant companies are a little vague, if not confusing.  When a company says it will source “100 percent cage-free eggs” they don’t typically define what cage-free means. They also often don’t specify exactly what products to be sold and served will contain cage-free eggs. A recent press release issued by Taco Bell, a Yum! Brands subsidiary, illustrates the latter. Taco Bell on January 3 announced that it was “expanding its commitment to serve 100 percent cage-free egg ingredients.”The restaurant chain already met its commitment to serve only cage-free eggs by the end of 2016, so what do they mean by that? According to the company’s latest statement, all of the eggs served as part of the chain’s breakfast menu are from cage-free operations, but the goal that was met did not include the eggs used as ingredients in its avacodo ranch sauce, creamy jalapeno sauce, habanero sauce and creamy chipotle sauce. Looking back at the November 2015 press release in which Taco Bell announced its goal to source only cage-free eggs by the end of 2016, it did not address that the goal would only include eggs as part of its breakfast menu.