Free-range, organic, and other eggs marketed with animal welfare claims saw increased shares of egg sales from 2008 to 2018

Between January 2008 and December 2018, U.S. consumers’ retail table egg expenditures shifted towards eggs marketed as cage-free, free-range, pasture-raised, organic, free of antibiotics or hormones, or third-party humane certified. In that 11-year span, eggs purchased with those various animal welfare and treatment claims saw increases in market share (by value) of between 4% and 32%. The share for expenditures on eggs labeled as free-range, for example, jumped from zero to 20% during that period. By December 2018, one-fifth of retail table egg sales were for eggs labeled as organic, and about one-third of table egg expenditures were for eggs claiming to have no added antibiotics or hormones. Meanwhile, the share spent on white-shelled eggs with no animal welfare or treatment claims decreased during that period from 41% to 27%.

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service

To view source article, visit: https://ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details?pubid=110817

Organic & Non-GMO Insights April 2025