WattAgNet: Panera Bread to fully switch to cage-free eggs by 2020

Written November 5, 2015
Restaurant chain also reports completion of goal to have all of its pork from crate-free farms and all of its chicken and turkey from birds raised with no antibiotics

Panera Bread announced it intends to have all of the eggs it serves at its U.S. restaurants from cage-free hens by 2020. This includes shell eggs, hard-boiled and liquid egg whites, in addition to those used in sweet goods, soufflés  and dressings.

In a news release issued on November 5, Panera Bread stated that nearly 21 percent of its eggs served in 2015 are cage-free.

The company revealed several other updates on its animal welfare goals and the progress it is making in meeting them.

Panera Bread and antibiotics
In the same news release, Panera Bread reported progress in its goal of serving proteins from animals raised without the use of antibiotics.

All of the chicken and turkey products that have sold at Panera Bread in 2015 came from birds that were never treated with antibiotics of any sort. Likewise, in 2015, all of the eggs served at Panera Bread came from hens that were never given antibiotics and all of the pork served were raised without antibiotics and fed a vegetarian-only diet.

“For more than a decade, we’ve been working to reduce antibiotic use and confinement across our supply chain,” said Panera Bread founder and CEO Ron Shaich. “We are honored to have been recognized as one of the two best performing national restaurant companies in an independent report on antibiotics usage and transparency in September. While there is more work to be done, we are within reach of a menu without antibiotics and unnecessary confinement. We are committed to transparency – which means sharing where we are and where we plan to go. We encourage other companies to join us by transparently sharing their progress.”

Only crate-free pork at Panera Bread
The company also reported that in 2015, its entire pork supply, which accounts for about 7 million pounds, came from farms where gestation crates were not used.