The restaurant group Melting Cook announced it is joining with Humane Society International to improve animal welfare in its supply chain, switching to a 100 percent cage-free egg supply chain, becoming the first Chilean company to join this global movement. Melting Cook will use exclusively cage-free shell eggs starting December 1st, and will conclude the transition for all products, including mayonnaise, by 2020.

Melting Cook is a leading gastronomy group in Chile that owns the restaurants Uncle Fletch, La Misión, La Fabbrica, KrossBar, Bocanáriz, Castillo Forestal and Chipe Libre. It will soon open new projects. The group will source exclusively cage-free eggs from Ecoterra, a Chilean egg producer internationally certified in animal welfare by Certified Humane. HSI supports companies like Melting Cook throughout the world in the implementation of their animal welfare policies including by providing technical resources and trainings on cage-free egg production.

Jerome Reynes, CEO of Melting Cook, stated: “Animal welfare is a priority CSR [corporate social responsibility] issue globally, and we’re proud to join and lead this important initiative in Chile. Confining egg-laying hens in battery cages isn’t a sustainable practice and switching to a cage-free egg supply chain reflects our values as a socially responsible company. We’re already begun the transition to cage-free eggs, and we’re happy to work with Humane Society International and Ecoterra to continue improving animal welfare in our supply chain.”

Ignacia Uribe, corporate policy and program manager for HSI Farm Animals, stated: “We congratulate Melting Cook for joining the global cage-free movement and for its leadership in this issue in Chile. We hope other Chilean food companies will follow this example and also decide to eliminate using eggs from controversial battery cages. We look forward to continuing to work with Melting Cook on this and other animal welfare issues.”

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In Chile, the majority of egg-laying hens are confined in wire battery cages, so small they can’t stretch their wings. Each battery cage confines five to 10 egg-laying hens and each animal has less space than a letter-sized piece of paper on which to spend her whole life. Hens confined in battery cages are unable to express important natural behaviors, including nesting, dustbathing and perching. Cage-free systems generally offer hens higher levels of animal welfare than battery cage systems.

Media contact: Raúl Arce-Contreras, 301-721-6440, rcontreras@humanesociety.org