Price Chopper is working with its suppliers to reach a 100 percent cage-free egg offering by 2025, reflecting the phase-in time necessary to achieve a cage-free landscape that can meet consumer demand.

Golub Corporation, which operates stores in Massena, Canton, Ogdensburg, Gouverneur and Potsdam, says as sustainability, animal husbandry and animal welfare best practices influence food system innovation, consumer feedback, regulatory issues, and animal advocacy help to thoughtfully shape the purchasing policies of major food service and supermarket retailers.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, the 2025 timeframe allows for the cage-free transition to be made in an economically sustainable manner, giving clarity to the future for all key stakeholders, while allowing ample time for the renovation of existing chicken houses away from cages, their replacement with cage-free equipment, and the construction of new cage-free barns.

The premise of a cage-free future relies on retail support for the U.S. egg industry in its conversion to modern cage-free housing systems. This innovation will maintain the production of commercially viable eggs, while allowing chickens to engage in natural behaviors - such as dust bathing, perching, scratching, laying eggs in a nest, and running around - that ensure as humane an environment as possible. Post-conversion, the cost of (cage-free) eggs is expected to be comparable to that which it is replacing.

Currently, nine percent of the eggs that Price Chopper sells are cage free. The chain’s Own Brand, known as PICS, features Large White cage-free, Extra Large Brown cage-free and Jumbo Brown cage-free dozens and a Large Brown 18pk.