2025 In-Ovo Sexing Yearly Recap
2025 was the year in-ovo sexing went global. In addition to steady expansion throughout Europe, the year demonstrated the technology’s viability across a variety of commercial markets, including the United States and Brazil. Major egg producers and retailers are increasingly adopting the technology, indicating a growing mainstream recognition of in-ovo sexing as the future of egg production.
In-Ovo Sexing Takes Off in the United States
In 2025 the American market began to adopt in-ovo sexing. With NestFresh bringing the first in-ovo sexed eggs to American shelves and several other major egg producers announcing their intentions to adopt in-ovo sexing, interest in in-ovo sexing appeared to be accelerating as the year came to a close.
NestFresh’s Humanely Hatched eggs hit shelves. In July NestFresh launched their Humanely Hatched product line and became the first egg producer in the United States to sell eggs from in-ovo sexed hens. These eggs can currently be found in Whole Foods and various Albertson’s chains across the country. “NestFresh didn’t just adopt this technology—we spearheaded the effort to bring it to market in the U.S.,” said Jasen Urena, executive VP of NestFresh. “Humanely Hatched represents years of collaboration, innovation, and commitment to doing what’s right. We’re honored to be the first to bring U.S. consumers eggs from hens humanely selected before hatch, verified by Certified Humane.”
NestFresh’s Humanely Hatched eggs being sold at a Whole Foods in California
Vital Farms announced plans to adopt in-ovo sexing. In December 2025 Vital Farms shared plans to adopt in-ovo sexing technology in 2026. Vital Farms is the largest specialty egg producer in the country, with over 10 million hens within their provider network as of 2025. The company expects the majority of their hens to be raised with in-ovo sexing by 2027.
Walmart announced in-ovo sexing as a supplier focus area. In February 2025 Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, updated its animal welfare policies for its US egg suppliers to add in-ovo sexing as a focus area. Given Walmart’s massive scale—over 30 million hens supplying its predominantly commodity-based egg sales—this move signaled in-ovo sexing’s expansion beyond specialty markets into the broader US egg industry.
Kipster became the second American company to produce eggs from in-ovo sexed hens. The company received its first flock of in-ovo sexed pullets in June 2025. The pullets were hatched at Hendrix Genetics’s Nebraska hatchery using the Respeggt in-ovo sexing machine. This is the first US machine capable of sexing both white and brown eggs, an important capability given the popularity of both egg types among American consumers. Kipster celebrated receiving its flock in a LinkedIn post where they shared “the first eggs from these hens will hit the retail shelves by the end of 2025.” Consumers eager to support this innovation can expect to find Kipster eggs with the Certified Humane® Approved Hatchery certification at Kroger and affiliated stores across 28 states, following the chicks’ maturation into laying hens.
In its January 2025 meeting, the United Egg Producers rolled out its in-ovo sexing certification, called United Egg Producers Certified Hatch Check. This certification verifies that the eggs come from in-ovo sexed hens and that egg farms and packing facilities have proper procedures to segregate Hatch Check eggs from conventional eggs. Producers now have two certification options for in-ovo sexed hens. The other was released in 2024 by Humane Farm Animal Care, which operates the Certified Humane certification program.
Source: United Egg Producers
In-Ovo Sexing Comes to Brazil
In-ovo sexing also entered the Brazilian market in 2025. In July, Agri Advanced Technologies announced the installation of a Cheggy machine in Brazil, marking the first in-ovo sexing machine installed in the southern hemisphere. The Cheggy machine was installed at a Hy-line do Brasil hatchery and is being used by egg producer Raiar Orgânicos, a producer in the premium market that considers animal welfare core to its business. “Raiar is a restless company committed to the highest standards of transparency, management, and animal welfare. That’s why we actively seek out the best market practices and solutions to continuously improve animal welfare in egg production,” says Marcus Menoita, CEO and co-founder of Raiar. “The in-ovo sexing technology provided by Cheggy is the most effective, non-invasive, and viable solution available.” Previous research by IAA showed that 76% of Brazilian consumers would pay a premium for eggs made with in-ovo sexing.
Logo from Raiar Orgânicos: “Care from the beginning. Technology in favor of animal welfare”
Continued Expansion in the European Market
Europe continued to show the largest demand for in-ovo sexing in the world. In 2025 the technology continued to grow as new countries adopted it and new machines were installed.
Steinsland & Co., Norway’s largest hatchery, announced their 1 millionth chick hatched with their Respeggt Circuit. Innovate Animal Ag covered the hatchery’s successes after the company made the forward-thinking decision investing in in-ovo sexing technology back in 2023. After just 18 months in the Norwegian market, in-ovo sexing technology had already climbed to a 22% market penetration.
The Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature unveiled a roadmap in February to end male chick culling for table eggs sold in the Netherlands by 2026. The plan introduced the "ZED" (Without Day-Old Chick Culling) certification as the Dutch equivalent to Germany's "OKT" standard. Most Dutch hatcheries are already equipped with in-ovo sexing technology for the German market, making them well-positioned for this transition.
Respeggt, a liquid-based in-ovo sexing technology provider, announced two new machines in Europe. The first at the Het Anker hatchery in Ochten, the Netherlands, and the second at ab ovo bio in Ahlen, Germany. The latter marks the first in-ovo sexing machine at an organic hatchery in Germany since the update to EU Organic Regulation 2018/848, which now permits in-ovo sexing. The updated EU regulation now allows more of the organic egg supply chain to adopt in-ovo sexing technology, as opposed to the less economical practice of male rearing.
In March 2025 in-ovo sexing was classified as compliant with EU organic production regulations. According to Lohmann Deutschland, in-ovo sexing procedures are now permitted at their hatcheries under EU Organic Regulation 2018/848. When the German chick culling ban went into effect in 2022, egg producers initially responded primarily by raising the male chicks for meat, a practice that was costly and unsustainable. By the beginning of 2024, in-ovo sexing had climbed to 70% of the German market, but given that up to 20% of the market was organic, the technology had limited room for further penetration. Some, but not all, organic producers in Germany use even stricter standards than the rest of the EU, so in-ovo still won't be able to achieve 100% penetration yet. However, with the updated EU regulations, more of the organic market is able to adopt the technology, paving the way for further expansion across Europe.
Other News
Orbem, an MRI-based in-ovo sexing technology provider, announced in May of last year that their machines had scanned a total of 100 million hatching eggs–over 38 million females–since they began production two years ago. They also announced the first hatch of in-ovo sexed chicks with their new machine at Sirevåg Rugeri, one of the two major hatcheries in Norway.
Omegga, a German-based in-ovo sexing startup, announced their new machine, the OmeggaOne. The OmeggaOne is installed directly inside the incubator–a new paradigm for in-ovo sexing–and uses specialized cameras and artificial intelligence to determine the sex of the developing embryo by the 7th day of incubation. Omegga rolled out their technology at Gut Averfeld Hatchery in Germany.
Innovate Animal Ag released our In-Ovo Sexing Global Market Penetration Report in May. We found that 28% of the EU’s 393 million hen flock was sexed with in-ovo technology at the end of Q1 2025. Since the technology was first adopted at scale in 2022, around 175 million male embryos have been separated out prior to hatching.
In September, Innovate Animal Ag released the results of our In-Ovo Sexing Australian Consumer Survey—the third survey we’ve conducted to better understand consumer attitudes toward the technology around the globe. The findings point to robust demand: Australian consumers reported a willingness to pay an average premium of A$0.93 (US$0.60) per dozen for eggs produced using in-ovo sexing. These results suggest a strong commercial opportunity for producers, indicating that early adopters of the technology will be well positioned to capture consumer loyalty and command premium pricing in a competitive market.
For more detailed information on in-ovo sexing technologies and their impact on the poultry industry, visit our In-Ovo Sexing Overview.
