Panera Bread is a tricky one, barely clinging to this list because, technically, it hasn’t used real eggs since 2023. The chain swapped all its breakfast eggs for a pre-mixed, pre-cooked product (made off-site) in the name of consistency.
Ironically, back in 2018, Panera even petitioned the FDA to define what qualifies as an “egg,” calling out fast-food competitors for using dozens of additives in their “egg” products instead of just, well, eggs.
These days, Panera’s breakfast sandwiches come with a folded or soufflé-style egg made from a liquid whole egg mixture rather than a freshly cracked shell egg. But, to their credit, their processed egg mixture is relatively clean — just whole eggs and a bit of citric acid to maintain color. So, there’s that.
On the bright side, Panera is at least a strong contender in ethical sourcing. They committed to using 100% cage-free eggs by 2020 and actually met that goal by June 2021.
