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Safeway announces plans toward gestation stall-free pork supply
Story Date: 5/8/2012
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Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 5/7/12
Grocery giant Safeway today became the latest food industry player to announce plans to attempt to source pork from operations that do not use sow gestation stalls.
In a joint news release with the Humane Society of the United States, Safeway said it would “begin formulating plans to have a gestation stall-free supply chain.”
The company said it has over the last several years substantially increased the quantity of pork it buys from producers that have made commitments to decreasing gestation stalls in their breeding facilities.
“It is Safeway’s goal to have a gestation stall-free supply chain,” said Safeway vice president of public affairs Brian Dowling. “With that in mind, the company is formulating plans to determine how it can reach that goal.”
“Safeway’s decision to move away from gestation crates is welcome and encouraging news,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. “Given the scope and quantity of pork products sold by Safeway, this announcement is an important step in addressing animal welfare in the company’s supply chain.”
Safeway’s move follows similar ones by McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and the nation’s largest foodservice company, Compass Group.
Best intentions
Even with the best of intentions, these companies may find it hard to achieve their goals in the near term, warns Dallas Hockman, vice president of industry relations for the National Pork Producers Council. He told Meatingplace that to date, just 6 percent of the U.S. pork supply comes from operations that do not use sow gestation stalls.
Even as major players like Smithfield, Cargill and Hormel change practices at their company-owned hog facilities, those companies also must purchase a lot of the pork they process from other producers.
For more stories, go to http://www.meatingplace.com/.
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