Nestle, one of the world's largest food companies, said Thursday it was making sweeping changes to improve the way animals in its supply chain are treated, the latest corporation to overhaul the way products it purchases are made or raised as a result of growing pressure from animal welfare groups.
The food giant, known for brands including Haagen-Dazs ice cream, Nescafe coffee and Butterfinger candy bars, said it signed a partnership agreement with World Animal Protection. The agreement means the 7,300 suppliers that provide the company animal-derived products such as milk, meats and eggs, will have to comply with tougher animal welfare standards.
"We know that our consumers care about the welfare of farm animals and we, as a company, are committed to ensuring the highest possible levels of farm animal welfare across our global supply chain," said Benjamin Ware, Nestlé's manager of responsible sourcing.
Under the pledge, the Switzerland-based company said it would eliminate products in its supply chain that have been derived from cattle that are dehorned, pigs raised in gestation crates, and chickens housed in barren battery cages. Nestle also vowed to work with its suppliers to use antibiotics that meet World Organization for Animal Health standards, while working to phase out the use of growth promoters.
"Bundling all of these reforms together, this announcement marks the most comprehensive and ambitious animal welfare program by a global food retailer to date," Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, said in a blog post on its website. "The world's largest food company has spoken: cruelty on factory farms has got to go."
Suppliers who are found violating these and other animal welfare standards will work with Nestle to improve the treatment of their farm animals. Those that are unable or unwilling to show improvement will be dropped as a supplier, the company said.
The move by Nestle is the latest commitment by a major food producer, restaurant or other large company to improve the way it treats animals, a response to growing demand from consumers and activist groups.
Burger King has pledged that it will serve cage-free eggs in its U.S. restaurants by 2017 and buy pork only from suppliers who plan to end their use of gestation crates for breeding sows. And pork giant Smithfield Foods in January asked its hog suppliers to move away from the use of stalls after hearing from customers who view roomier group housing systems as more humane for the animals.
General Mills, Costco, Subway and Target, among other companies, also have pledged to eliminate gestation crates from their pork supply chain.
Craig Rowles, general manager of Elite Pork Partnership LLP, a hog operation near Carroll, Iowa, said the livestock industry is working closely with other food partners in the supply chain to understand issues surrounding animal care. Elite Pork, which sells about 150,000 hogs each year to Tyson Foods, said producers are committed to providing the best care possible and are working to improve the way they care for their animals.
"The industry as a whole is in conversation with our food chain partners to talk about animal welfare issues, and I as an individual am focused on providing the best care for my animals every day," Rowles, said. "There is no one single system of animal care that is perfect; all systems have advantages and disadvantages as part of their overall use. To try to make a clear-cut delineation of one system over another is overly simplistic," he said.