Shift to cage-free eggs, part of larger consumer movement

As the saying goes, the customer is always right.  Over the past year, the U.S. food industry – grocers, restaurants, foodservice and hospitality – rapidly pledged to serve only cage-free eggs in the next 20 years. Led by McDonald's Corp.’s landmark announcement in 2015, retailers are saying they are switching because that’s what their consumers want and it makes business sense in the long run.  Egg producers have good reasons to grumble about the change:Cage-free housing is going to cost the industry billions of dollars and will force changes in husbandry and production expectations.The egg and food industries partnered to study the issue scientifically and cage-free wasn’t the best option available.Cage-free egg production on the scale necessary to complete pledges might not be possible before the key year of 2025. The biggest gripe, raised by the industry at United Egg Producers (UEP) meetings in summer and fall 2016, is that cage-free eggs just aren’t selling nearly as well as conventionally raised eggs. This fact can be used to undermine the food companies’ claims about consumer preferences forcing their hand.