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Hannaford Supermarket, Maine’s so-called trusted local retailer, is hiding behind a broken promise while generating massive profits from customers who believe they’re supporting a company with integrity.
In 2016, Hannaford pledged to transition to 100% cage-free eggs by 2025. But instead of honoring that commitment, the company boldly granted itself a seven-year extension, a move that allows it to continue profiting from cage confinement while claiming to care about animal welfare.
Recently, temporary chalk stencils appeared on sidewalks in Portland, Maine, and surrounding towns—an important market for the grocery chain. The goal? To spotlight Hannaford’s troubling decision and the suffering it enables. The washable art sparked strong reactions online.
Some criticized the stencils, while others saw past the medium and into the message. As one resident noted, “The horrors of factory farming are … horrific.” Another added, “We have a corporation that makes millions and millions of dollars a year off of all of us Portlanders and uses that money to buy targeted ads that are literally lying to us about their values — lies that are hard to even dig up.”
As an animal protection organization, Mercy For Animals advocates for the welfare of animals and holds corporations accountable when they fall short of their promises to the public. Hannaford’s delay represents more than just a logistical shift; it’s a betrayal of consumer trust and a refusal to move away from one of the most archaic and inhumane practices still allowed in our food system. Hannaford must be held accountable.
The reality for caged birds is stark. They spend nearly their entire lives in barren wire cages, confined to standing space smaller than a standard-size sheet of printer paper. These normally active and curious animals are crammed so tightly together that they’re unable to run, jump, or even spread their wings. Despite claiming to be a passionate supporter of farmed animal well-being, Hannaford chooses to uphold this system. By meeting its original deadline, the company could spare each hen caged in its supply chain an estimated 7,233 hours of pain.
Hannaford’s failure doesn’t just impact animals; it also misleads customers who care about the sourcing of their food. In a recent study, nearly 80% of U.S. survey respondents said they preferred to purchase eggs from chickens not kept in cages. Despite the rising demand for cage-free eggs, Hannaford has broken its nearly decade-old promise to ditch cages, choosing corporate greed over doing the right thing.
While the chalk stencils will wash away, the cruelty behind Hannaford’s broken promise endures. Our organization doesn’t take lightly the decision to call out a company like Hannaford in its own backyard. But customers deserve transparency and accountability from the businesses they support.
If this issue matters to you, we urge you to respectfully contact Hannaford leadership and ask them to honor their original cage-free commitment. Together, your voices can make a real difference—for animals and for the values this town represents.Learn more at HannafordHarms.com.