Dunkin’ Donuts breakfast goes cage-free
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Dunkin’ Donuts breakfast goes cage-free
Dunkin’ Donuts has announced it will make all its breakfast items with eggs from cage-free chickens, but it will take the chain a decade to reach that goal.
This announcement comes just months after the donut chain set a goal of 10 percent cage-free eggs in their breakfast products by the end of 2016 and 100 percent crate-free pork products by 2022.
“We have a responsibility to ensure the humane treatment of animals, an issue we know is also important to both our franchisee community and our loyal guests,” said Christine Riley Miller, senior director of corporate social responsibility for Dunkin’ Brands in the press release.
The joint announcement with the Humane Society of the United States said that the change would be implemented only at the company’s U.S. locations and would “benefit approximately 1.4 million egg-laying hens annually,” by 2025.
Earlier this year, major companies including McDonalds, General Mills, Costco and Aramark all made similar pledges toward buying only cage-free eggs. Dunkin’ Brands, like most major companies, opted toward a gradual and limited change in their products over time.
However, a few weeks ago, Taco Bell — owned by the Yum Brands Inc — stated that all of its U.S. locations will be cage-free by the end of 2016, one of the fastest major transitions yet.
This trend toward buying cage-free comes in spite of the bird flu breakout earlier this year that caused egg prices to soar. According to the USDA, the virus caused the death of 42.1 million egg-laying chickens in the United States. However, egg prices are now gradually dropping after reaching almost three dollars a dozen in September 2015.
Duncan’s stock rose 1.67 percent following this morning’s announcement.
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