Snyder’s-Lance will transition to cage-free eggs by 2025

Charlotte-based snack maker Snyder’s-Lance says it’s transitioning its supply of eggs to 100 percent cage-free by 2025.

The manufacturer cited its sustainability goals as reason for the change. Its other sustainability efforts include opening a ground-based solar farm in Pennsylvania in 2011, as well as developing renewable packaging and launching recycling programs in its snack-making facilities.

“Snyder’s-Lance is committed to utilizing products and practices which reduce negative effects on the environment,” the company said in a statement this week.

Several Charlotte-area companies have said recently they’re taking similar steps with their egg supplies. Last month, the parent companies of Matthews-based Harris Teeter and Salisbury-based Food Lion also said they were transitioning to 100 percent cage-free egg supplies by 2025.

Other non-grocers are going cage-free, too: McDonald’s, for example, said in September it would transition to cage-free eggs over the next decade.

Snyder’s-Lance, known for Hanover’s pretzels and Lance peanut butter sandwich crackers, formed when Charlotte-based Lance Inc. merged with pretzel maker Snyder’s of Hanover in 2010. The company employs about 1,500 workers in Charlotte.

This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 7:57 AM with the headline "Snyder’s-Lance will transition to cage-free eggs by 2025."