The retailer first made the commitment in 2016 but has recently come under fire from animal charity The Humane League UK for its lack of progress.

Now it appears that Iceland has removed the cage-free commitment from its website, prompting actor Joanna Lumley to launch a petition demanding that the retailer keeps to its initial promise.

According to Iceland’s own data for 2023-24, 71% of its eggs sold came from caged hens. By comparison, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, M&S and the Co-op are already cage-free, while Lidl, Tesco, Morrisons and Aldi are all “on track” to go ‘cage-free’ by the end of this year.

The charity also raised concerns over Asda’s ability to meet the commitment due to gaps in its reporting.

Campaigns manager at The Humane League UK, Claire Williams, criticised Iceland for removing the commitment from its website, describing the move as “short-sighted”.

“Iceland has axed their commitment to stop selling whole eggs from cruelly caged birds from their website,” Williams said.

“This is a phenomenally short-sighted move, and a deep betrayal of their customers and countless suffering animals. An overwhelming majority of the public thinks caging hens is wrong, but Iceland seemingly doesn’t care. Shoppers who want to avoid caged cruelty should shop somewhere else.”

Food Manufacture has reached out to Iceland for comment.

‘Moral duty’

In a comment provided to The Humane League UK, Lumley explained why she decided to target Iceland with the new petition.

“I believe that the British public are committed to seeing farmed animals treated with kindness and decency,” Lumley said.

“However, there is no better symbol of cruelty to farmed animals than a hen in a cage. Iceland said they would get their hens out of cages by the end of the year, but they are so far failing to do it.

“It pains me deeply to think of the thousands of hens suffering day in, day out because of this. It is Iceland’s moral duty to help these animals. Hens can feel happiness and pain; if locking them in cages isn’t animal cruelty, I don’t know what is.”

Data published by Bryant Research in February 2025 revealed that 94% of the UK public oppose the use of cages for laying hens.

Also read → Abattoir fined £47k for obstructing hygiene inspections