More Companies Discontinuing Farm Animal Confinement

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Companies Discontinuing Farm Animal Confinement

Ben Block – April 7,

2008 – 6:00am

Photo Courtesy of Farmsanctuary.org.

Veal crates are among the confinement techniques that

businesses have begun avoiding. More companies around the world are adjusting

their farm-animal confinement policies and requesting clarification of consumer

labels to reflect these changes. The moves come largely in response to U.S. voter-led

initiatives and the implementation of farm policy reforms in the European

Union.

Animal confinement - forcing dense populations of

chickens, pigs, or young cattle into cages, crates, or tight pens to more

efficiently utilize farm space - is a common practice in the United States, Europe,

and increasingly the developing world. Led by growth in China, Brazil,

and India,

industrial livestock production has grown at twice the rate of traditional

forms of animal husbandry, according to a United Nations Food and Agriculture

Organization report.

The World Society for the

Protection of Animals expects factory farming in those countries to

" explode, " placing billions more animals into confinement.

Growing public awareness of the environmental, public

health, and animal welfare challenges associated with animal confinement has

lead several major grocery stores, fast food chains, and meat producers to

phase out some of these practices. U.S. companies that have responded to

consumer concern in recent years include Safeway,

North America's third largest grocery retailer; leading pork producer Smithfield

Foods; and hamburger giant Burger

King.

Mounting legislation is forcing companies to curtail

confinement as well. The E.U.

voted to ban veal cages,

breeding pig

crates, and windowless " battery

cages " for hens, and the laws first went into effect last year. A

campaign is now under way in the largest U.S.

agricultural state, California,

to hold an animal

welfare referendum during the November election. A handful of other U.S. states have passed bans on veal and

pregnant sow crates, but the California

initiative would make it the first to outlaw all three confinement practices.

" There's a big ripple effect. These laws...send a

signal to industry all across the country that accelerates progress

nationwide, " said Paul Shapiro, senior director of the factory farming

campaign with the Humane Society of the United

States. The Humane Society has been organizing several of the state ballot

initiatives and pressuring companies to change their practices. " The

problem isn't persuading Americans that crates are inhumane. The problem is

getting bills through...agricultural committees that kill [the bills]. "

At a time when 60 percent of human pathogens are

derived from animals, placing farm animals in constant close contact has led to

bacterial resistance and other health concerns. Concentrated animal waste can

pollute waterways with high nitrogen and phosphorus loads, and both manure and

livestock release methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide.

Close confinement can interfere with natural animal tendencies as well.

" It's the lack of normal behavior in confinement that I find most

disturbing: chickens pecking at each other, pigs gnawing on cages, " said

Alan Goldberg, a professor of toxicology at Johns

Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Businesses that oppose animal confinement have

requested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) establish a " naturally raised "

label for meat and other animal products, to differentiate from the current

" natural " label, which they say is misleading. Chipotle

Mexican Grill, the country's largest restaurant seller of naturally raised

meat, is among businesses that note that while " natural " addresses

how the meat is processed, it does not provide information on how the animals

are raised, such as whether they are confined.

The " naturally raised " label that is

currently being proposed, however, refers mainly to how an animal is fed or

medicated, and would still allow farms to utilize conventional confinement

operations. Thousands of organic food companies and consumer advocates have

submitted complaints that the label would be deceptive, which the USDA is now

reviewing. " Review of consumer research and comments indicate that the

prohibited use of antibiotics, growth promotants, and animal by-products are

the main factors consumers associate with meat and meat products from livestock

they perceive as naturally raised, " said Martin O'Connor, chief of the

agency's standards, analysis, and technology branch in their marketing

service's livestock program, in a presentation

he delivered last year to the meat industry. O'Connor said the agency should

announce a decision by August 1.

To address the many concerns associated with factory

farming, including confinement, the Pew

Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production will release suggested

changes at the end of this month. Although the commission is focused on U.S.

industries, as meat consumption increases internationally and as industrialized

countries import more livestock from the developing world, the report could have

implications for shaping sustainable animal welfare policies worldwide, said

Emily McVey, the commission's science advisor.

" More of our food is coming from other parts of

the globe: Asia and South America, " said Michael Blackwell, a member of

the commission and former U.S.

chief veterinarian. " Better [u.S.] public policy is needed to

improve other sources from around the world. "