FULLERTON, Calif. — NestFresh, a leading U.S. humane egg brand, recently announced that its entire egg portfolio will now be sourced through its Humanely Hatched program, marking a major milestone in the company’s commitment to animal welfare and ethical egg production.
The transition was completed months ahead of the company’s schedule, making NestFresh the first national egg brand to fully scale in-ovo sexing technology across its full retail product lineup, NestFresh said in an announcement.
It’s been one year since the Humanely Hatched brand hit store shelves nationwide, introducing in-ovo sexing technology to US consumers on a large scale. Designed to help address one of the egg industry’s longest-standing animal welfare challenges, the technology identifies the gender of chicks before hatching, eliminating the need for routine euthanizing of male chicks, NestFresh explained.
This trailblazing initiative first launched in late 2024 and has now become the foundation of NestFresh’s entire portfolio, demonstrating a shift toward more humane egg production at a large scale in the United States.
“This is a defining milestone not only for NestFresh, but for the future of the egg industry,” Jasen Urena, NestFresh vice president, said. “We set out to prove that humane innovation could work at scale, and completing this transition ahead of schedule shows what’s possible when a passion for animal welfare, technology, and the voice of consumers come together.”
Since launching Humanely Hatched, NestFresh has continued expanding distribution nationwide while helping drive broader consumer awareness around transparency, animal welfare, and the future of human food production, NestFresh added.
Additionally, the company has updated all of the packaging in this portfolio to make it easier for consumers to identify the eggs sourced through this humane program.
Along with this new transition, over the past year, NestFresh has:
- Expanded Humanely Hatched eggs to strategic retail partners nationwide, including Whole Foods, HEB, Publix, Food Lion, Albertson’s, Acme, Food Land, Harris Teeter, Heinen’s, Market Basket, and more.
- Helped spare more than 800,000 male chicks through in-ovo sexing technology.
NestFresh’s Humanely Hatched program is verified under Certified Humane standards through Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC), making it one of the first programs of its kind in the U.S. egg category, NestFresh noted.
For the in-ovo sexing, the program uses Cheggy technology developed by Agri Advanced Technologies, a non-invasive in-ovo sexing system designed to support large, commercially viable egg production while improving animal welfare standards.
“As consumer expectations around transparency and ethical sourcing continue to evolve, we believe Humanely Hatched represents an important step forward for the future of egg farming,” Urena added. “This transition reflects our long-term commitment to continuously raising the standard for humane egg production.”
For more information about NestFresh and Humanely Hatched, visit https://nestfresh.com/.
