Tesco has said that it will stop selling eggs from caged hens by 2025, following a petition by a teenager which attracted 280,000 signatures.

The supermarket said that the move was due to a review of its egg sourcing, which would mean a gradual shift away from caged hen eggs in favour of barn-reared, free range and organic eggs. At present, 43% of the 1.4bn eggs sold by Tesco each year come from caged hens, which led to a Change.org petition of 280,302 signatures started by 14-year-old Lucy Gavaghan. Matt Simister, Tesco’s commercial director for fresh food, said: “Our decision on caged hens is one of a number of Tesco initiatives designed to ensure sustainable sourcing, and improve animal welfare.

“We carried out an extensive and collaborative review with our suppliers and key industry experts to help us work through how best we can move to 100% cage-free eggs.

“This will ensure we give our supplier partners the certainty they require, to make the significant and necessary investments needed for the new farming systems.”