I read the article "Free-range eggs from Tottori help crack regional revitalization" in the Feb. 16 edition with great interest.
I work for an American NGO called the Humane League and its Japan operation. We advocate for cage-free eggs and lobby large corporations to source cage-free eggs instead of caged eggs.
Over 95 percent of layer hens in Japan are confined in small battery cages, but corporations overseas have started shifting from using eggs from cage-raised hens to using cage-free/free-range eggs.
Over 400 firms in the U.S. alone have pledged to use only cage-free eggs by 2025, and global corporations that have locations in Japan include Japanese locations in their cage-free policies. As a result, big companies such as Hilton, Marriott Hotels and InterContinental Hotels have shifted to cage-free purchases.
The shift is due to sustainable sourcing, corporate social responsibility and farm animal welfare, and recently these issues have been weighing more in investment risk management and ESG (environmental, social and governance) investment.
Thank you very much for your work and dedication to delivering important news.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.
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