Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 8/15/16


A senior director of food policy for the Humane Society of the United States last week sent a letter to the CEOs of major broiler processing companies, asking for an audience, saying the organization’s focus is “likely to shift toward broiler welfare issues.”
The letter, signed by Josh Balk, said:

Hope you’re well. I’m reaching out from The Humane Society of the U.S. to see if we might be able to connect about some emerging animal welfare issues.

As background: for last decade and a half (sic), we (and others in our field) have been focused largely on confinement issues related to pigs and laying hens. Those issues are now largely put to rest, with virtually every food company (for example) committing to a cage-free future.

As we look to the future, our focus is likely to shift toward broiler welfare issues. As I’m sure you saw, we recently partnered with Perdue to announce a new suite of animal welfare reforms, with Perdue committing to: convert all its slaughterhouses to CAS; start installing windows to provide birds natural light and adding enrichments; testing slower-growing birds; and providing more space per bird.

While this new broiler focus of ours is still in its early stages, I thought I’d reach out and see if you all are open to chatting, just to see if there’s a way we might engage on the issues privately.

“[I]t’s always been our preference to work collaboratively with industry, and that note was really just a private olive branch of sorts, as we begin looking more at broiler issues,” explained Matthew Prescott, who also holds the title of senior food policy director at HSUS.

“The biggest welfare issues with poultry production [are] moving toward healthier strains of chickens  … providing more space per bird; offering enrichments … and shifting to controlled-atmosphere slaughter methods that avoid live-shackling and live-dumping. Some or all of this is reflected in much of the policies announced over the past several months, including from Whole Foods, Bon Appetit Management and Perdue.

Prescott noted the “thoughtful engagement” HSUS has had with Perdue: “We had the opportunity to meet with them on many occasions in person (including for an entire day, and including with their leadership) and numerous times over the phone to provide our insights on the type of animal welfare policy we’d favor…  [W]e hope to continue working with them on their journey on improved animal welfare.

Several poultry processors contacted by Meatingplace said they were unaware of the letter.

Tom Super, vice president of communications for the National Chicken Council, said HSUS has not contacted the association.
He said in an emailed comment, “We've known for quite some time that consumers have more and more questions about how food is produced and that it's done so humanely, safely and sustainably. As America's most consumed animal protein, it is now even more of the case for chicken. This was the impetus of our media tours we began four years ago, and for the launch last December of Chicken Check In and its social media components.”

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