September 16, 2013
Demand for cage-free eggs grows in Brazil
The manufacturer of Hellmann''s mayonnaise and the biggest retail group in Brazil spoke on the growing demand for cage-free eggs during an event in Bastos, the country''s major egg producing city.
Sales of free-range and organic eggs are growing at more than twice the rate of conventional egg sales, at Grupo Pão de Açúcar, Brazil''s largest supermarket chain, and the multinational company Unilever has announced that all eggs used in its Hellmann''s brand of mayonnaise, the most popular brand in country, will be 100% cage-free by 2020.
Such trends favouring alternative egg production were the focus of the workshop ''Market Opportunities for Free Range and Organic Eggs'', which took place in Bastos on September 6, reports Humane Society International (HSI).
"The factor that boosts sales of organic and free range eggsare that consumers are looking for a healthy diet", said Danielle Pedro de Freitas, egg purchasing officer at Grupo Pão de Açúcar, during the Bastos event, held by the Technical and Educational Institute for Animal Control- ITEC. She reported that compared to sales in the first semester of 2012, sales of free-range eggs grew by 22% in volume and 45% in value in the first semester of 2013.
At the same time, sales of organic eggs grew by 48% in volume and 46% in value. Both figures are more than two times higher than the sales of conventional eggs, which dropped by 8% in volume and grew by 20% in value. Also according to Pão de Açúcar, another factor which boosts the expansion of the free-range and organic markets is that consumers are concerned about animal welfare issues.
Ernani Wood, global leader for egg and meat purchasing at Unilever, said: "Our sustainability focus in the egg market is animal welfare. And that is why we have decided to use 100% cage-free eggs in all our products by 2020, and that applies to the Hellmann''s mayonnaise in Brazil". Wood highlighted that the transition has already been completed in Western Europe and is in progress in Canada and in the US. A plan to shift to cage-free eggs in Brazil is currently being developed, creating a new market opportunity and a challenge for all players in the egg supply chain.
Unilever also wants to ensure that its entire egg supply is certified by a third-party animal welfare auditor. In Brazil, Unilever works with Ecocert, the agency providing the ''Humane Certified'' certification.
"Unilever has proven to be an international leader in animal welfare by making its cage-free policy global", said Carolina Galvani Bruun, Brazil''s farm animal campaign manager of the Humane Society International (HSI), one of the world''s largest animal protection groups. HSI encourages and works with large-scale food retailers in the adoption of higher animal welfare standards in their supply chains for meat and eggs.
"Many other companies such as Burger King, Subway, WalMart and Starbucks, have also adopted cage-free procurement policies for their US supply chains. We look forward to working with these multinational companies to similarly extend their animal welfare policies to Brazil," she added.
Sadala Tfaile, national sales manager for egg production at Big Dutchman, one of the world''s largest housing equipment suppliers for egg production, explained that contrary to what many believe, projects in the US and Europe prove that cage-free systems can be attractive to commercial producers, given that they can be large scale, have similar costs to cage production, maximise the use of space via multiple floors and be fully automated.
According to HIS, conventional egg production systems, predominant in Brazil, use cages to house hens of which most animal welfare specialists believe these systems are detrimental to animal welfare because when hens are in cages they are virtually unable to move and cannot express most of their natural behaviours. In alternative systems- such as free range, organic and cage-free- hens are free to walk and exercise. Such systems also often provide areas where hens can express their natural behaviours such as foraging, dust-bathing and nesting.
Since 2012, conventional battery cages have been banned all over the EU and three US states- Michigan, California and Ohio- have also approved laws to restrict the confinement of hens in cages, HIS added. While in India, a national ban is being debated.