McDonald's revealed Wednesday that all eggs used by the company will be cage-free in the U.S. and Canada by 2025. This move comes as CEO Steve Easterbrook works to try and reinvent the burger giant as a "modern, progressive burger company," according to Crain's Chicago Business.
McDonald's has already announced since Easterbrook became CEO earlier this year. In March, the burger company announced it would switch to chickens raised without various antibiotics by 2017, and, in April, it said it would raise pay for workers at company-owned stores. Most recently, the company announced it would begin serving parts of it's breakfast menu 24/7 to customers starting from Oct. 6.
The decision to switch to cage-free eggs indicates a growing sensitivity among customers to animal welfare issues, according to USA Today.
"Our customers are increasingly interested in knowing more about their food and where it comes from," McDonald's USA President Mike Andres said in a statement. "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."
Currently, McDonald's purchases about 2.12 billion eggs annually in the U.S. and Canada, but less than 1 percent of that number, 13 million, are cage-free, according to Fox News.
Marion Gross, senior vice president of the North American supply chain at McDonald's, believes the change will be "truly meaningful" to customers, and said, "They know how big we are, and the impact we can make on the industry."
