Loblaw Companies Ltd., Loblaws’ parent company, is bringing in a Danish grocery executive as its new CEO and president by early 2024. Current CEO Galen Weston will transition to the Chair of the Loblaw Board of Directors and CEO of its parent company, George Weston Limited.
The new Loblaw CEO, Per Bank, currently leads Salling Group A/S, the largest retailer in Denmark, with 1,700 multi-banner supermarkets across three countries.
Animal Justice and thousands of compassionate Canadians have been actively pushing Loblaws to follow through on its broken promise to stop selling eggs from caged hens by 2025.
It’s common in the egg industry to lock up sensitive hens in tiny wire cages, such as battery or “enriched” cages. These confinement systems are incredibly cruel, and force hens to endure heartbreaking suffering all so farmers and wealthy grocers can maximize profits.
Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur | We Animals Media
Salling Group’s Animal Welfare Policies
On its website, Salling Group states that “by ensuring a broad range and by openly communicating about the level of animal welfare, we make it easier for our customers to make informed choices when shopping with us.”
The company also has a track record of improving its animal welfare standards. In 2017, Salling Group stopped selling eggs from hens confined in battery cages. Prior to this move, it labeled eggs clearly so consumers could tell whether or not they came from battery-caged hens.
New Loblaws CEO Should Make Hens a Priority
Canadian grocers lag far behind their peers in the US and Europe when it comes to getting animals out of cages. In 2016, Loblaws announced it would go cage-free by 2025. But now, Loblaws is breaking its promise, dropping the deadline, and refusing to share a timeline for ending this horrific suffering of sensitive hens.
Loblaws and Galen Weston have also been the target of major news and public outrage, given the grocer’s massive increase in profits during the pandemic and inflation, making the lives of Canadians even harder with rising grocery prices.
New CEO Per Bank should redirect some of the company’s huge profits toward ensuring that Loblaws keeps its promise to ban cages from its supply chain. Take action now to tell Per Bank to protect hens from suffering in cages!
Banner: Konrad Lozinski
