NEW REPORT: Ten Years After Their Promises, Canada's Biggest Food Companies Are Still Failing Millions of Animals
Mercy For Animals’ 2026 Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard reveals which food companies kept their promises, which fell short, and why Canada is lagging behind the rest of the world
TORONTO, June 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ten years after major food companies pledged to improve animal welfare, Mercy For Animals’ latest report reveals a stark divide between companies delivering results and those still offering excuses, weakening commitments, or failing to prove progress.
The 2026 Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard evaluates 46 leading food companies on their cage-free eggs and Better Chicken Commitment progress. While the United Kingdom has reached 82% cage-free production and the United States has reached 47%, Canada lags at just 21%.
Key findings from the 2026 Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard include:
- Costco and Walmart lag far behind in Canada, with 22.6% and 9% cage-free progress, versus 85% and 27% in the United States.
- Sobeys has remained stalled at 17% cage-free sourcing for five straight years.
- Fifteen companies have met their cage-free commitments, a 60% increase since 2024.
- Eleven restaurant chains are at 100% cage-free sourcing, up 35% since the last report.
- 80% of companies reported progress on at least one animal welfare commitment.
Despite industry laggards, companies including A&W Canada, Boston Pizza, McDonald’s Canada, Subway, and Mary Brown’s Chicken have fulfilled their cage-free commitments, proving meaningful animal welfare progress is both achievable and scalable.
“Ten years of promises should have meant progress, not excuses. Mercy For Animals’ 2026 Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard reveals many companies have failed to deliver. While brands stall, millions of sensitive animals continue to suffer,” said Maha Bazzi, Director of Animal Welfare Initiatives at Mercy For Animals.
Mercy For Animals is urging companies to eliminate cages, reject “enriched-cage” loopholes, adopt Better Chicken Commitment standards, and publicly report clear progress and implementation plans.
The complete 2026 Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard is available at CanadaScorecard.ca.
For more information or to schedule an interview, contact Jessica Bohrson at press@mercyforanimals.org.
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Mercy For Animals is a leading international nonprofit working to end industrial animal agriculture by constructing a just and sustainable food system. Active in Brazil, Canada, India, Mexico, Southeast Asia, and the United States, the organization has conducted over 100 investigations of factory farms and slaughterhouses, influenced over 500 corporate policies, and helped pass historic legislation to ban cages for farmed animals. Learn more at MercyForAnimals.org.
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Mercy For Animals
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