MINNEAPOLIS, MN – General Mills updated its Animal Welfare policy this week by announcing that the company is working toward 100% cage free eggs for its U.S. operations by 2025.

“General Mills is further demonstrating that confining hens in cages has no place within our food system. We applaud the company for its great work,” said Josh Balk, senior food policy director for The Humane Society of the United States.

On its website, General Mills states that it believes that by striving for sustainable sourcing for all of its animal ingredients, the company will create the environment for more humane treatments of animals globally. Some of these efforts focus on how animals are raised and treated, including egg production, free-range eggs, cage-free eggs and milk production.

In the U.S., General Mills’ Yoplait was the first leading yogurt company to source only milk produced by cows not treated with the synthetic growth hormone rBST. General Mills’ Häagen-Dazs ice cream in Europe is also produced using only cream and milk from cows not treated with rBST.