OREANDA-NEWS. September 27, 2016. IKEA Canada announced that as part of its commitment to more sustainable food offerings, it will only be serving cage-free eggs in all its IKEA Canada restaurants as of November 2nd, 2016. This supply chain improvement also supports the well-priced food offerings at all IKEA restaurants.

“At IKEA, we want to improve our contribution to a better everyday life through a wider offering of delicious, healthy food that is sustainably produced and well-priced. We trust this latest transition to offering cage-free eggs in all our restaurants will be meaningful to our customers while influencing the advance of animal welfare,” said Danielle Beauchesne, IKEA Canada Country Food Manager.

Why cage-free eggs?
IKEA believes that good animal welfare practices is an important criteria for high quality food products, and offering cage-free eggs is integral to its food offering.It’s good for the people and planet, and also good for business.

Cage-free eggs means the hens are housed in an open concept barn where they can move about freely with nests and perches to lay their eggs. IKEA Canada restaurants also offer chicken on the menu. These chickens are raised on Canadians farms following organic practices, with birds enjoying a diet of non-GMO, pesticide and herbicide-free grains, with no animal by-products added. These chickens are never treated with antibiotics and, like all chickens raised in Canada, are raised without the use of added hormones.

“We are pleased to support IKEA in their transition to serving only cage-free eggs in their restaurants in Canada. IKEA sets an impressive standard for businesses wanting to give their customers humane and wholesome options. They know that people want food choices that better reflect their core values including sustainability, positive impact, compassion and health. Making the switch to serving only cage-free eggs can deliver that. We applaud IKEA for giving hens in Canada a better life,” said Josey Kitson, Executive Director, World Animal Protection.

IKEA is one of Canada’s largest restaurants, serving the over 9 million visitors a year. That’s why it’s important for IKEA to serve a variety of healthy and sustainably produced food for everyone to enjoy eating.

IKEA’s ongoing commitment to offering good quality food at affordable prices includes announcing in April 2015, its new veggie ball, GR?NSAKSBULLAR, a good alternative to the popular IKEA meatball, offering tasty pieces of vegetables and a good protein level to support a main meal. Then in September 2015, IKEA announced it would only sell and serve fish and seafood in its stores from sustainable and responsible sources certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). This includes all IKEA salmon from the ASC, and all wild caught fish and shrimp served and sold at IKEA from fisheries independently certified by the MSC.