Friends of Rural New York

Wild Oats: In the United States, the country’s third largest natural foods retailer Wild Oats announced that it will require all of its egg suppliers to move to cage-free systems. Wild Oats, which operates more than 100 stores in the US and Canada, sold 1.6 million cartons of whole eggs in 2004. In his statement, the Wild Oats President commented that “demand for improving the welfare of farm animals has never been higher” and that he hopes the company’s new policy will move the egg industry “toward cage-free methods that take the animals’ welfare into account.” Wild Oats’ policy against “battery” cages was developed after discussions with The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), including managers of the group’s “No Battery Eggs” campaign. HSUS has previously convinced several universities and food service providers to use exclusively eggs from hens raised without cages.