Food & Farm

Global demand for food and fuel is rising, and competition for resources has widespread ramiﬁcations. We all eat, so we all have a stake in how our food is produced. Our goal is to provide in-depth and unbiased reporting on things like climate change, food safety, biofuel production, animal welfare, water quality and sustainability.

Burger King Pledges Cage-Free Pork, Eggs

NPR

Published April 26, 2012 at 2:00 AM MDT

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with a cage-free promise.

Burger King announced yesterday, that by 2017, all of its eggs and pork will come from animals not penned-up in cages and crates. Burger King is the first major U.S. fast food chain to put a firm deadline on such a promise. The move is seen as part of an industry-wide shift to consider animal concerns.

One food industry analyst says it proves quote, "that consumers are willing to pay a little bit more for fairness."

The U.S. still lags behind the European Union's stricter legal standards. McDonalds, in the EU, already gets 100 percent of its eggs from free-range chickens. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.