McDonald’s, in partnership with its supplier Cargill and farms across the country, has hit a significant milestone in its sustainability journey. All eggs sourced for McDonald’s U.S. restaurants are now 100% cage-free. In 2015, McDonald’s set a goal of sourcing 100% cage-free eggs in the U.S. by 2025 and has reached that milestone two years ahead of schedule.
To help reach this goal, McDonald’s engaged animal welfare experts and academics to help egg producers, build and renovate their farms and implement new technology.
On a cage-free farm, hens are housed in an open environment that allows birds freedom to express their natural behaviors and includes enrichments such as perches, scratch areas and nests. Each McDonald’s-supplying egg farm in the U.S. has an attending veterinarian who helps lead training and education for the staff to help ensure a high level of care.
“Our journey to move to sourcing 100% cage-free eggs in the U.S. was a huge undertaking — made uniquely possible by our McDonald’s owner/operators, egg producers, and our supply chain working together as one team,” said Bob Stewart, SVP, North America Chief Supply Chain Officer for McDonald’s. “I am incredibly proud of what we achieved together and the positive impact we will continue to make on the path toward a more sustainable future.”
As a U.S. System, McDonald’s purchased almost 2 billion eggs in 2023 – that’s close to six times the U.S. population.