Canada's major food companies say they care about animal welfare. Here's how they actually perform

All of A&W's pork now comes from pigs that aren't confined to crates, while Tim Hortons has pushed back its deadline for serving cage-free eggs, according to a new report scoring Canadian food companies on their commitments to animal welfare.

The third annual Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard from the group Mercy for Animals, released Wednesday, looks at major food companies' pledges to address animal welfare issues, the progress they've made, and whether they're transparent about that progress. The group, whose goal is to end industrial farming, scored the companies based on publicly available information, but the group says it also works with companies by providing specific recommendations for them.

In particular, the report focuses on:

"We know Canadian consumers want to see these changes," said Sayara Thurston, spokesperson for the group, citing public surveys. "We want to help these companies make progress on this."

The report looked at restaurants, supermarkets, food-service providers and manufacturers.

Ikea, which has cafes in its stores, scored the highest among restaurants, with 100 per cent cage-free eggs, 100 per cent crate-free pork and a score of 85 per cent on the welfare of chicken raised for meat. Chipotle and A&W Canada also scored highly, with the latter being recognized for achieving 100 per cent crate-free pork.

Meanwhile, Tim Hortons was criticized for pushing back its deadline to have only cage-free eggs — from 2025 to 2030 — "without any transparency on its progress to date." 

In response to CBC News's request for clarification, the chain's parent company, Restaurant Brands International said the new target "is the practical timing to match up the volume of eggs we use and the availability of cage free eggs supply in Canada.

"We remain committed to working with our suppliers to increase the supply," it said in an email. 

The company did score higher than 13 other companies, including McDonald's, Subway and Domino's Pizza. Foodtastic, the parent company of Milestones, and the Pita Pit, received a score of zero for failing to publish any animal welfare policies even though some of its brands have committed to them.

Whole Foods scored the highest among grocery retailers, offering 100 per cent cage-free eggs, 100 per cent crate-free pork and earning a 60 per cent score on the welfare of chickens raised for meat. It was followed by Metro and Longo's. Walmart, Calgary Co-op and Federated Co-operatives had the lowest scores.

Thurston said many of these companies have a lot of purchasing power. "They have the power to change practices," she said. "They've made commitments, but they're not pushing hard enough for these commitments to be fulfilled."

Overall, she says, there's a lot more transparency from companies than when the group produced its first scorecard in 2021. And a number of companies have made good progress on their commitments.

"We can see that when a company really decides to act on this, it's very feasible," she said.