Friday, January 10, 2014

Pork producers call for more humane treatment

The yearslong call by animal rights groups to improve conditions on American hog farms advanced considerably this week when two of the country's biggest meat companies urged producers to change how pregnant sows are housed, and one announced it wanted to stop the practice of killing sick or injured animals by "manual blunt force." Tyson Foods sent new animal welfare guidelines to its 3,000 independent hog suppliers on Wednesday — roughly six weeks after gruesome video from an Oklahoma farm showed some animals being struck with bowling balls and others being slammed onto a concrete floor. And Smithfield Foods announced Tuesday it would ask growers to move pregnant sows from gestation crates to group housing by 2022. The change in corporate policy comes after decades of lobbying and protests from animal rights groups and a trend that saw more food retailers and restaurant chains moving away from suppliers who implemented the controversial hog-raising practices on farms. The planned overhaul was lauded by several animal rights groups, some who had campaigned against gestation crates, which they deemed institutionalized animal abuse and considered it an outdated and unnecessary practice. "Gestation crates" are cramped, often-foul stalls that barely allow a sow to take a step forward or backward and have been used for decades. Tyson also said it would require by the end of the year farmers who manage company-owned sows to end the longstanding industry practice of blunt-force euthanasia in favor of alternative methods in line with American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines...more

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