Lever Foundation Praises Bakkavor Group for New Global Cage-Free Egg Policy

Bakkavor, a top global manufacturer of fresh prepared food, produces own-brand foods for companies including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Morrisons and Asda in the U.K., Kroger, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Harris Teeter in the U.S., and KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks and Aldi in China.

LONDON, Aug. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bakkavor Group, one of the world's largest manufacturers of fresh prepared food, won praise today from non-profit Lever Foundation for its new commitment to source only cage-free eggs and egg ingredients globally. Headquartered in London, the company operates 23 factories in the U.K., 5 in the U.S. and 9 in China, with annual sales exceeding $2.2 billion USD. Bakkavor specializes in fresh prepared foods such as ready meals, salads, desserts, pizzas and sandwiches, which are sold white label to leading U.K. and U.S. retailers and leading retail and food service chains in China.

"As a Group, we are committed to working towards 100% cage-free eggs by 2027, and in the UK, our largest market, we are working with our UK customers towards 100% cage-free eggs by 2025," Bakkavor announced in an updated Environmentally Sustainable Sourcing policy released last week.

Bakkavor's commitment means many own-brand fresh prepared foods at U.K. retailers including Tesco, Morrisons, Co-op, Marks&Spencer, Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Asda, and at U.S. retailers including Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Harris Teeter, and Kroger's Home Chef, will shift to containing only cage-free eggs. In China, fresh prepared foods produced by Bakkavor for clients including KFC, Pizza Hut, Costa Coffee, Starbucks, Aldi and Marks&Spencer will also be shifted to using only cage-free eggs.

"We applaud Bakkavor's new global cage-free egg policy, which will spare tens if not hundreds of thousands of laying hens in China, the U.S. and the U.K. each year from intensive cage confinement while also boosting food safety for customers," said Kirsty Tuxford of Lever Foundation, which worked with Bakkavor on its cage-free commitment.

Bakkavor joins a growing number of food businesses that have made commitments to source only cage-free eggs across their global supply chains, including packaged food manufacturers such as Unilever, Danone, Nestle, Kraft and Mondelez, retailers such as Tesco, Costco, METRO and Aldi, and food service companies such as Aramark, Compass Group and Sodexo.

CONTACT
Ilaria Bertini, ilaria@leverfoundation.org