AG Nessel urges Kroger for clear advertising of cage-free eggs

LANSING, Mich. (WNEM) - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is urging Kroger to advertise its cage-free eggs truthfully and clearly following a new report from Data for Progress.

In the report “Cracking Down on Kroger,” a poll concluded that “Kroger customers reveal that the company’s marketing of caged chicken eggs is both confusing and misleading, at best.”

“Grocery shoppers throughout the state should be able to decipher and trust the advertising in whichever grocer they shop,” said Nessel. “Grocers must be transparent and honest in their in-store marketing. It is troubling to read reports saying that is not what all customers are experiencing.”

Last week, Jason Evans, the division chief of Nessel’s Corporate Oversight Division, wrote a letter to Kroger’s CEO. He wrote that the “report indicates that Kroger shoppers are being misled into buying eggs from caged hens wrongly thinking they are cage-free.”

Of the Kroger customers polled for The Data for Progress report, 41% think “Farm Fresh” labels on eggs means they are cage-free and another 45% didn’t know. “Farm Fresh” labels do not necessarily mean the eggs came from chickens not living in cages. In addition, 54% didn’t know if Grade A eggs were laid by chickens in cages or not.

Evans said beginning in 2025, Michigan will prohibit the sale of eggs from caged hens.