In 2021, leading Italian manufacturer Barilla received a Special Recognition Award under the Planet Friendly Award banner.

Barilla has successfully implemented cage free eggs across its entire global business and they have reformulated some of their products which has led to a decrease in the use of egg as an ingredient.

In 2020, Barilla launched three new biscuits across two of their brands which now contain either no egg or have a lower egg content and a higher percentage of legumes such as chickpeas and lentils, and in the US, they have launched a whole range of pasta with 100% plant-based protein.

Barilla’s commitment to reducing the company’s environmental impact has resulted in three of its brands offsetting their CO2 emissions completely.

For people, Barilla helps educate children and young people and provides consumers with the tools to make conscious and responsible food choices, inspiring them to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
For the planet, an 8% reduction in the use of egg as an ingredient from 2016 – 2020 has resulted in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
And for the animals, more than two million hens are leading cage free lives and approximately 14% or 332,000 hens have been taken out of their global supply.

We are proud to receive this award, the result of Barilla's constant commitment to animal welfare issues. Thanks to the collaboration with CIWF, we achieved the important goal of globally removing cages from our eggs supply chain; in addition to this, in the last few years we have launched several products with high content of plant-based proteins, reducing the consumption of eggs. And the journey has not finished, we will continue our activities to further improve.”

Elena Franchi, Raw Materials Purchasing Manager at Barilla

Whilst the transition to higher welfare production systems is imperative, growing scientific evidence calls for a significant reduction in the overall production and consumption of animal protein. Barilla’s work to actively reduce egg consumption with the resulting fall in emissions is an excellent example of how this balance can be successfully achieved and deserves to be recognised.

Tracey Jones, Director of Food Business