Safeway evolves animal welfare policies

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Safeway evolves animal welfare policies (MEATPOULTRY.com, February 12, 2008)by Bryan Salvage PLEASANTON, CALIF. ¯ Safeway, North America’s third-largest supermarket chain, announced it is making several changes in its animal welfare policies." We have developed a new set of policy statements addressing controlled atmosphere stunning for poultry, gestation stalls for pork and cage-free eggs," Safeway spokesman Brian Dowling told MEAT & POULTRY. "These policies have been put in place during the last week and they have been communicated." When asked if the policy changes were made under pressure from animal activist organizations, he answered: "We made these changes not because of pressure from P.E.T.A. or any other organization. We have been looking at these issues for quite some time. Safeway has made animal welfare a top priority. We looked at consumer and vendor community feedback over an extended period of time and we saw an opportunity to make progress on these issues. These

new policies are also an evolution in our own thinking and approach to animal welfare." Specifically, Safeway is looking for ways to increase the amount of poultry from suppliers that use controlled-atmosphere stunning (C.A.S.). The retailer has been purchasing some processed poultry product from manufacturers using C.A.S. Safeway will now give buying preference to poultry manufacturers in North America that use or switch to the system. The retailer has also begun an initiative to increase the amount of pork from North American suppliers that are phasing out gestation crates to confine sows. Safeway will give buying preference to vendors who are moving away from gestation crates. The company is currently purchasing a quantity of pork from vendors who are phasing out the crates, and will increase that business by purchasing an additional 5% in year one, 10% in year two and 15% in year three. Finally,

as a part of its overall animal welfare effort, Safeway has undertaken an initiative to increase the quantity of cage-free eggs it makes available to its customers. The company recently added 12 regional and national cage-free brands across its stores in the U.S. and Canada. "Last year Safeway launched its own private-label line of cage-free eggs under the ‘Lucerne Cage Free’ brand.

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