Some chickens at Perdue will soon be living a better life on the farm.
Perdue, the fourth-largest poultry
producer in the country, announced this week that it would overhaul a
portion of its chicken houses to give the animals more space and
sunlight.
The company plans to install windows
in sheds, increase the space in which chickens can roam and add perches
and hay bales to boost their physical activity.
It’s a move that signifies a shift in
consumer demand — the expectation that the food they buy is produced
humanely — is creating tangible results at the producer level. Chickens
are typically stuffed by the thousands in sheds that don’t get sunlight,
and they are raised to grow rapidly and to large sizes, due to the
controversial use of growth hormones and other methods.
For now, the company is adding windows to just 200 chicken sheds by
the end of the year. Five hundred of Perdue’s total of 4,500 houses
already have windows. The company will determine later whether to
retrofit all its chicken houses and some are cautioning against heaping
praise on Perdue prematurely.
“This is an indication that the
status quo is no longer defensible, and that the industry is starting to
make moves, but it’s doing so carefully and slowly,” said Gene Bauer,
president and co-founder of the farm animal advocacy nonprofit Farm
Sanctuary. “Sunlight is better than no sunlight, and hopefully there
will be cleaner housing, but it likely will still be overcrowded. It
will allow birds to suffer less, but they’re still suffering.”
As a major player in the poultry
industry, Perdue must also hold itself accountable for its commitments,
animal activist groups say. Concrete deadlines about when goals are
achieved, in addition to third-party audits of farm conditions, would
significantly help improve consumers’ trust in the company.
“This policy is not perfect, and
there’s a long way to go,” said Josh Balk, senior food policy director
at the Humane Society of the United States, which is working with Perdue
to establish progress timelines. “In the coming months, Perdue should
demonstrate that they’re serious about this policy. Consumers should
know how long this is going to take.”
Growing public pressure around animal
welfare pushed Perdue to review the way it’s been doing business. The
company says it will release yearly reports on the changes and work with
its farmers to ensure that better practices are put in place.
“It’s important to be transparent as
we move through this,” said Bruce Stewart-Brown, who oversees food
safety and quality at Perdue. “People are more interested in the aspect
of raising animals, and we want to be open and talk about it. We’re
anxious to move in this direction.”
In an effort to be more humane, Perdue
will also begin stunning the chickens so that the animals are
unconscious before slaughter. The company spoke with various
organizations that have been critical of its animal welfare policies as
it prepared this week’s announcement, and some groups were optimistic
that the move could trigger other poultry producers to adopt similar
practices.
While this marks a significant pivot in the poultry supply chain, the past year has already seen numerous retailers commit to promoting better conditions for chickens. Major fast-food chains including McDonald’s, Starbucks and Panera, as well as supermarkets like Trader Joe’s and Costco, are transitioning to selling only cage-free eggs in response to consumer demand.
“Consumers now care more than ever before about the treatment of farm animals,” Balk said. “It’s going to be difficult for competitors to say they can’t do this.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/perdue-chicken-animal
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