Leading Italian food caterer, MARR, has announced that it will phase out cages from its egg supply chain by 2025. Compassion welcomes this decision, especially as the commitment is for both shell eggs and egg ingredients.

Last week MARR, part of Cremonini Group, published an overarching animal welfare policy, where the company clearly states that “confining chickens in cages, even if they are constructed in compliance with the law, is damaging to the welfare of the animals”.

Their policy also includes other ambitious goals, including the launch of a customer awareness campaign by 2019 to encourage the use of cage-free eggs and egg-based products.

MARR’s commitment is a meaningful step forward for the welfare of laying hens in Italy, as they join other foodservice leaders like Camst who made a similar cage-free pledge in 2016.

This latest commitment will help spread the cage-free wave even further across Italy and encourage others in the foodservice sector to follow their lead.

Elisa Bianco, Compassion’s Food Business Manager in Italy said: “We commend MARR for such an important decision, which will not only benefit thousands of laying hens every year, but will also help raise awareness of the importance of cage-free eggs among consumers.

We will continue to work with the food industry to encourage and support other companies on their journey towards cage-free production”.

MARR in Italy goes cage free