McDonald’s pledged Tuesday to discontinue using eggs from cage-raised chickens in all North American restaurants by 2025.
The promise to change the sourcing policies of 16,000 restaurants came as the chain is preparing to offer breakfast all day in U.S. units. Headquarters noted that U.S. stores already buy 2 billion eggs per year and that Canadian units purchase about 120 million.
"Our customers are increasingly interested in knowing more about their food and where it comes from," said McDonald's USA President Mike Andres. "Our decision to source only cage-free eggs reinforces the focus we place on food quality and our menu to meet and exceed our customers' expectations."
McDonald’s used the announcement to review recent pledges to source ingredients in a more sustainable manner. McDonald’s USA has promised to buy all its chicken by 2017 from growers who do not use certain antibiotics to treat the birds. It has also disclosed plans to stop buying milk from dairies that use the controversial growth hormone rbST.
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