Official line from PETA on the Safeway victory

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

Here's the official line from PETA on the Safeway victory, with notes on

exactly what's been won, and where we go from here.

 

Best regards,

Alka

 

Dear Activist,

 

We are very pleased to announce that because of all your amazing effort and

hard work, we are able to declare a moratorium in the Safeway Campaign! This

is a significant step toward eliminating some of the worst abuses that

animals endure on factory farms as Safeway is the first grocery store chain

in U.S. history ever to do anything for farmed animals.

 

Actually, Safeway is not just a major grocery chain. Safeway is among the 50

largest U.S. corporations, with three times McDonald's U.S. revenues.

Clearly, this is a wonderful victory. It shows that society is changing

because of agitation and exposure to these issues and that it now recognizes

that cruelty to those animals it previously ignored is an important social

issue. Our dream of a vegan world is another step closer.

 

Safeway has pledged to immediately begin unannounced audits of Seaboard

Farms, the country's fourth-largest pig-meat supplier. This plan follows a

PETA undercover investigation that ended with four felony animal abuse

charges leveled against Seaboard's manager. Read about PETA's investigation

here: <http://www.peta.org/feat/invest/index.html>

http://www.peta.org/feat/invest/index.html.

 

In addition to the immediate plans to audit Seaboard, Safeway officials have

pledged to enforce the new Food Marketing Institute (FMI) guidelines when

they are released. PETA has been working with the FMI and its animal welfare

panel for more than a year on guidelines expected to be released in June. We

are hopeful that these guidelines will exceed those adopted by the fast-food

giants. Safeway has also pledged to conduct audits of all suppliers and to

work with any supplier that fails an audit to improve the conditions that

led to the failure and then to conduct another unannounced audit. If the

supplier fails again, Safeway will cut that supplier off. Safeway has

pledged to implement all guidelines within six to 18 months and to announce

all of its animal welfare plans publicly. Of course, the sooner, the better.

 

We have told Safeway that if the FMI guidelines are not out before the end

of June or if they are not at least as good as those adopted by the

fast-food chains, as we expect they will be, it will still have to meet or

exceed the fast-food guidelines. All indications are that Safeway officials

are serious, which is why we feel that we should direct our attention, over

the next month, to making sure that the standards that they're pledging to

uphold are up to snuff and to soliciting promises from Safeway's main

competitors that they, too, will adopt and enforce the animal welfare

guidelines when they come out in June.

 

What more can you do? Please check the Shameway.com and GoVeg.com Web sites

over the next week. We will have addresses for Safeway's main competitors in

the U.S. and Canada, as well as talking points for letters that should be

written to them, encouraging them to follow Safeway's lead. We will also

have contact information for the Food Marketing Institute and the National

Council of Chain Restaurants and will ask you to write to them, letting them

know that any standards lower than those adopted by McDonald's, Burger King,

and Wendy's will not be acceptable. We need to keep this momentum going!

 

We are so proud to know and work with so many outstanding activists. Over

the past few years, your efforts have truly changed the national debate.

Just two years ago, no corporation in the U.S. had required a thing of its

suppliers of farmed animals. Now, half a dozen of the biggest corporations

in the world have done so. What this means in decreased suffering and abuse

can't be overstated.

 

But maybe a bigger result is that the shift in national debate really begs

the question, " Where do we get off eating these feeling beings in the first

place? " Once corporations begin treating animals better, everyone is forced

to consider that animals are not automatons or widgets, that they have

interests, needs, desires, and more. As this consciousness grows, the vegan

world we all want draws nearer.

 

Thanks so much for all you're doing. We will keep you apprised of the

situation as it develops. Please contact me if you have any questions or

concerns.

 

For the animals,

 

 

 

Bruce Friedrich of Vegan Outreach

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals