meat for the sensitive carnivore

October 25, 2006

Meat Labels Hope to Lure the Sensitive Carnivore

Jonathan Fredin for The New York Times

Mike Jones uses a feeder for the pigs at his 73-acre farm in Louisburg, N.C. The pigs will be sold to Whole Foods Market.

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By ANDREW MARTIN

Published: October 24, 2006

Many cows, pigs and chickens will soon be living cushier lives.

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Besides Whole Foods? ?animal compassionate? program, several animal rights groups have created their own animal-welfare labels and certification programs. While each provides higher standards of animal care than the industry norms, there are differences. Some examples:

ANIMAL COMPASSIONATE Castration of sheep prohibited; electric prod on beef cattle permitted in emergencies; tail docking of pigs not allowed.

CERTIFIED HUMANE Castration of sheep allowed within the first week of life; electric prod on beef cattle permitted in emergencies; tail docking of pigs allowed.

FREE FARMED Castration of sheep allowed within first week; electric prod on beef cattle permitted in emergencies; tail docking of pigs permitted.

ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE Castration of sheep not allowed; electric prod on beef cattle prohibited; tail docking of pigs not allowed.

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Jonathan Fredin for The New York Times

Pigs at the Jones farm are raised outside, part of what qualifies them to be sold under Whole Foods? new ?animal compassionate? label.

But in the end, they will still be headed for the dinner plate.

Whole Foods Market is preparing to roll out a line of meat that will carry labels saying ?animal compassionate,? indicating the animals were raised in a humane manner until they were slaughtered.

The grocery chain?s decision to use the new labels comes as a growing number of retailers are making similar animal-welfare claims on meat and egg packaging, including ?free farmed,? ?certified humane,? ?cage free? and ?free range.?

While the animal-welfare labels are proliferating, it remains unclear whether they appeal to anyone other than a niche market of animal lovers, particularly since the meat and eggs are as much as twice as expensive as products that do not carry the labels.

Mike Jones, a Louisburg, N.C., farmer who is raising ?animal compassionate? pigs for Whole Foods, is convinced the new label will find buyers among ?recyclers? and ?foodies.?

?The recyclers will buy it because they love this kind of agriculture,? Mr. Jones said. ?The foodies will buy it because they love the taste.?

The increase in animal-welfare labels has been driven in part by animal-rights organizations. The Humane Society of the United States, for instance, has been working for nearly two years to end the practice of confining hens to cages. But, like organic and natural labels, the animal-welfare claims are also a way for food retailers to offer something their competitors do not.

?You are always trying to find a point of difference,? said Ted Taft, managing director of the Meridian Consulting Group. ?You could argue that chicken is chicken. But if you get a chicken that is free range, consumers will say, ?I like that.? ?

Mr. Taft added that buyers say ? ?It makes me feel good.? It?s something to give it an edge in a tie-breaker.?

The labeling trend has even been embraced by the restaurant industry, where a handful of high-end restaurants are now carrying ?certified humane? meat. The Chipotle Mexican Grill, meanwhile, trumpets its humanely raised pork in an ad campaign that appears on the company?s Web site and on billboards.

Steve Ells, the chain?s founder, chairman and chief executive, said his decision to use humanely raised pork, free of antibiotics and hormones, in his burritos was based in part on his distaste for industrial-style farming, but also on his belief that it tastes better. When the natural pork was added to the menu six years ago, sales of the pork burrito quickly doubled, though the price jumped by $1.

?What is cool about this is we made our food taste better, and we did something good for the food system, for sustainability,? Mr. Ells said.

The market for cage-free eggs, which often cost 60 percent more, is growing rapidly, though neither the federal government nor the United Egg Producers, a trade group, tracks their share of the market.

It is harder to determine how many meat packages carry animal-welfare labels. There is general agreement, though, that it remains a small niche that will probably expand substantially when Whole Foods begins offering its animal-compassionate line in its 186 stores.

At one grocery outlet, at least, ?certified humane? meat is selling briskly. D?Agostino, a small grocery chain in New York, said sales of meat jumped 25 percent since it added the ?certified humane? logo, though the products cost, on average, 30 to 40 percent more.

Several other vendors said they believed that the animal-welfare labels have helped them in various ways. ?It has probably helped sales, but it?s not really recordable,? said Steve Gold, vice president for marketing at Murray?s Chicken, which uses the ?certified humane? label. ?It helps the image of what we are trying to be as a company.?

Whole Foods, which recently banned the sale of live lobster amid welfare concerns, has been working on its animal compassionate standards for three years and plans to unveil its logo in a few months, as soon as auditing guidelines are established to make sure farmers are following the rules. The initiative was started by Whole Foods? chief executive, John P. Mackey, a vegan who has been increasingly outspoken on animal-rights issues.

?We want to make sure that people know that it?s real,? said Margaret Wittenberg, vice president for communications and quality standards. ?That it?s not just marketing.?

But some critics say all the new marketing labels will confuse consumers who are already struggling to decide between organic and antibiotic-free, grass-fed and natural.

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Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: we are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.

~ Leonardo da Vinci (Renaissance painter, architect, engineer, mathematician and philosopher, 1452 - 1519)