Free-range, organic, and other eggs marketed with animal welfare claims saw increased shares of egg sales from 2008 to 2018

From 2008 to 2018, U.S. retail table egg expenditures shifted toward eggs labeled with a variety of animal welfare and treatment claims. Common specialty table egg claims address the use of antibiotics or added hormones, hen housing (cage-free, pasture-raised, free-range), and comprehensive production standards (USDA organic and third-party humane certified). Eggs purchased with these common claims saw increases in market share (by value) ranging from 4 to 32 percentage points across that time. The share for expenditures on eggs with pasture-raised and free-range claims climbed from zero in January 2008 to 5 and 20 percent shares, respectively, in December 2018. By the end of 2018, one fifth of retail table egg sales were for eggs with an organic claim, while about one third of table egg expenditures were spent on eggs with a no-added-antibiotics claim or a no-added-hormones claim. Across the 11-year period, average monthly market shares ranged from just under 1 percent for eggs with pasture-raised claims to nearly 20 percent for eggs with no-added-antibiotics claims. While specialty egg expenditures increased, the share spent on white-shelled eggs with no animal welfare, treatment, or production claims decreased from 41 percent in January 2008 to 27 percent in December 2018. This chart is drawn from the USDA, Economic Research Service report, Animal Welfare and Treatment Label Claims in U.S. Table Eggs: Trends in Retail Premiums and Policy Impacts, 2008–18, published in January 2025.