Customers shopping at these, and eight other Countdown stores will only find cage-free eggs on the shelf. The addition of the new stores is another important step as the company moves closer to its goal to be cage-free in all on-shelf eggs by the end of 2024 in the North Island and the end of 2025 in the South Island.
Countdown’s Director Corporate Affairs, Safety and Sustainability, Kiri Hannifin said making the change in five stores earlier in 2021 gave Countdown an opportunity to understand how customers felt about the change to cage-free.
“While we know animal welfare is a key concern for our customers, we're also aware that there are other factors they consider when making purchasing decisions such as price and range. So, when we hatched the plan to launch the first five cage-free stores, we wanted to see how our customers responded to the change. The great news is our customers have embraced the cage-free change and this has happened quickly.
“Our focus remains on how we can continue to work closely with our egg farmers to establish a pathway towards a more cage-free supply. While 2024/2025 might still seem a while away, we have to do the work now to achieve our cage-free goal in the coming years,” said Hannifin.
“As New Zealand’s largest egg producer we are delighted to see Countdown’s progress in offering only cage-free eggs on shelf,” said Zeagold Nutrition CEO, John McKay.
“We remain committed to investing in cage-free egg production to support that. We will continue to work proactively with Countdown to improve the supply and availability of eggs that meet this growing segment of cage-free consumers,” said John McKay.
Countdown’s goal is to have 100 percent cage-free eggs on the shelf, subject to regulatory changes and based on available supply, affordability and customer demand. Countdown’s Egg Producer Programme for Free Range and Barn launched in 2016 to provide certainty to supply partners that if they invest in free-range or barn egg farming, Countdown will buy those eggs.
