Over the last decade or so, big food companies have pledged to improve their animal welfare standards. A new report card by animal rights organization Mercy for Animals shows that some companies operating in Canada are making progress on their public commitments, but others are falling behind.
The advocacy organization’s Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard ranked 55 top food companies that have operations in Canada, focusing specifically on three contentious issues: confining egg-laying hens in cages; confining pregnant pigs in gestation crates; and standards for how chickens should be raised and slaughtered known as the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC). Chipotle, Whole Foods and Campbell’s were among the “gold tier” companies that have strong policies concerning all three issues and are publicly reporting the progress they’ve made.
“This year, there are more companies showing that they're taking meaningful steps to reduce the suffering of animals in their supply chains,” Mercy for Animals spokesperson PJ Nyman tells Corporate Knights, adding that it’s a “good sign” that these companies are listening to the increasing concerns consumers have about animal welfare. But there is always more work to do when it comes to how some of the largest food companies in Canada treat animals. The report’s bottom tier includes Moxies, Mary Brown’s, Co-op and Domino’s Pizza, none of which had public animal welfare policies or reporting. Last year, Sysco, a massive broadline food distribution company, was in the lowest tier by itself, but it made it into the report’s fourth tier this year as it made a cage-free egg commitment and started reporting its progress.
The report shows that companies in Canada are generally falling behind ones that operate in other parts of the world in some ways when it comes to animal welfare. The percentage of laying hens confined to cages (as reported by industry) in Canada, for example, was 83% last year, while the EU reported 45% and the U.K. reported 35%. Even the United States performed better on this front, with 71% of laying hens there confined in cages.
There were also no Canadian retailers with public welfare policies regarding chickens raised for meat that aligned with the Better Chicken Commitment in 2021, while the EU had 42, the U.S. had 12 and the U.K. had four. BCC requires that companies have policies that give birds more room and enrichment than typical industry standards. It also indicates that birds must be stunned with CO2 gas before slaughter, rather than the common industry practice of electrified water bath stunning, which is considered inhumane by many welfare advocates.
“This country is falling behind on critical animal welfare issues, and we need food companies to step up and show that they’re taking animal welfare seriously and fulfilling their promises to Canadians,” says Nyman.
Mercy for Animals ideally wants to see all food companies in Canada (and beyond) make animal welfare a priority by integrating it into their corporate social responsibility policies. But the commitments are only the start, as Big Food needs to set deadlines and show that it’s achieving steady progress in making its supply chains much less cruel.
