Trader Joe’s has thrown its weight behind the growing cage-free egg movement, making it one of few grocery chains to do so. Our AHD team checked egg pricing at a Kansas City grocer, then compared price increases between regular eggs and cage-free.
| Store brand | Eggland’s Best | Store brand – cage free | Eggland’s Best – cage free |
| Grade A Large | Grade A Large | Omega 3 Grade A Large | Brown Grade A Large |
| $1.88/dozen | $2.98/dozen | $2.68/dozen | $3.98/dozen |
| 42.5% price increase | 33.5% price increase |
Review the information in these two stories, then you can decide where you stand on this issue.
Source: Huffington Post, February 15, 2016.
Trader Joe’s announced Feb. 12 it would begin selling only cage-free eggs in all stores by 2025. Locations in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado could see the switch as early as 2020.
Source: One Green Planet, January 2, 2015.
Rather than telling consumers their meat and eggs came from concentrated feeding operations where countless of animals were housed in cramped, unsanitary conditions – marketers capitalize on the “positive” and label these products as being fed an “all vegetarian diet.” This creates the illusion that animal welfare was actually given ample thought and consideration … making the consumer feel like they’re making an informed choice and picking a high-quality product. The same often occurs in the case of the “cage-free” and “free-range” label for chickens and eggs. Sadly, the difference between what this label implies and what it actually means, seems to have consumers incredibly confused.