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Broken Promises and Caged Lives: Ahold Delhaize’s Failure to Deliver on Cage-Free Eggs
The year 2025 was meant to mark a major milestone for animal welfare. Global retail giant Ahold Delhaize, parent company to beloved U.S. grocery chains like Food Lion, Giant Food, and Stop & Shop, had pledged to completely eliminate cruel battery cages from its U.S. egg supply chain by this deadline.
But that deadline has arrived, and instead of a celebration of progress, consumers are met with a harsh reality: the commitment has been pushed back another seven years.
This isn't a minor administrative delay; it's a profound failure that leaves millions of hens trapped in cramped, inhumane wire cages. These hens are denied the ability to simply spread their wings, perch, or engage in any of their most basic natural behaviors—a life of severe suffering prolonged by corporate indecision.
A Crisis of Leadership and Trust
The decision to postpone a seven-year-old commitment is more than just a broken promise to animals; it signals a failure of oversight and responsibility at the highest levels of Ahold Delhaize.
The responsibility for upholding the company's ethical obligations ultimately falls to its leadership, particularly the Chair of the Supervisory Board, Wiebe Draijer. As the figurehead tasked with ensuring the company meets its obligations to both animals and its consumers, Draijer’s current stance suggests that decisive, meaningful action is missing.
Consumers are increasingly demanding that the food they buy aligns with their values. They want to know that companies are not just making promises, but keeping them. By allowing this delay, Ahold Delhaize jeopardizes not only animal welfare but also:
Consumer Trust: The broken deadline undermines the credibility of all future ethical claims made by the retailer.
Credibility as a Responsible Global Retailer: This delay puts Ahold Delhaize behind competitors who have already transitioned to cage-free or are on track to meet their earlier deadlines.
Out of Step with Global Standards
The continued use of battery cages is increasingly an outlier in the modern food system.
The European Union has banned the practice due to its extreme cruelty, and multiple U.S. states have outlawed the sale of eggs from caged hens. The global consensus is clear: these confinement systems are cruel and unnecessary.
Yet, despite this clear ethical direction and strong consumer demand, Ahold Delhaize continues to support a practice that has been deemed unacceptable across much of the developed world.
This is a pivotal moment for the Supervisory Board. By allowing the cage-cruelty to continue, Draijer is permitting animal suffering and actively damaging the company's ethical standing.
It is time for Ahold Delhaize’s leadership to stop offering empty promises and deliver a real, time-bound plan to eliminate cages from its supply chain. The lives of millions of animals—and the trust of millions of customers—depend on it.
