Animal Welfare

The Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP) recently released Version 3.0 of its standards for food service institutions, which include important changes for animal welfare and meat reduction.

This year, we partnered with the research firm Data for Progress to test some of our hypotheses about consumer understandings of everything from “pasture raised” to Global Animal Partnership’s “Animal Welfare Certified” label.

Why has Costco kept its price for rotisserie chickens at $4.99 since they were first sold in 2009, despite inflation? Costco knows that cheap chicken helps to bring customers through the door, who then spend money on other products with greater profit margins. Costco capitalizes on this trend by selling rotisserie chickens in the back of the store. However, the low price point comes at a high cost for the welfare of the chickens, the environment, and public health.

People who consume dairy may believe they are not encouraging the slaughter of any animals by doing so. But industrial dairy production requires that cows must repeatedly be made pregnant to produce milk, bringing many calves into the world who the industry must either use productively or dispose of. One of the ways to use the male calves born as a “byproduct” of dairy production is to turn them into meat known as veal.

To call foie gras controversial would be an understatement. To produce foie gras, male ducks and geese are force-fed by poorly paid farm workers several times a day until their livers become fatty and diseased. The resulting pale white meat of the liver is then sold to high-end restaurants for a few wealthy people to enjoy. Few food items are so widely viewed as cruel, or so succinctly capture the dynamics of an inequitable food industry.

Chicken meat is a dietary staple for many millions of people worldwide, and eggs are a standard breakfast for many of us. However, the true cost of these proteins includes the suffering of billions of living beings. This suffering is largely due to intensive breeding programs that prioritize profit over the welfare of chickens, leading to genetic predispositions that plague birds with ill health and short lives.

Modern-day chickens raised for meat, called “broilers,” are a far cry from chickens just a few decades ago. They consume less food, grow more quickly, and reach a much larger size. As a result of all the ingenuity and invention that has gone into their genetics, chickens suffer immensely during their short lives, and today’s massive scale of chicken production wreaks havoc on the environment.

A federal judge struck down North Carolina’s “Ag-gag” law, ruling that several of its provisions are unconstitutional and violate the First Amendment.

Although pigs are recognized as one of the most intelligent species, most pigs are housed by the thousands in crowded conditions with very little to stimulate them mentally.

Findings from our recent survey show what American consumers understand about the farmed-animal industry; promising insights, and some troubling beliefs.

Major corporations cash in on so-called “humane” labels like “antibiotic free”, “natural”, and “organic”, even though their corresponding husbandry practices almost never match consumers’ expectations for animal welfare.

The National Chicken Council’s response to New York Times enlightening video misses the mark, and on purpose, for these reasons. Learn more.

GAP and Whole Foods have failed to prevent the use of drugs in their supply chains, raising questions about the claims they make about their meat. 

Beef certified by Global Animal Partnership (GAP), the animal welfare certification used primarily by Whole Foods Market, was found to contain antibiotic residue despite GAP’s and Whole Foods’ claims that their meat is “antibiotic-free.”

Farm Forward has found a variety of drugs, including an antibiotic, in meat certified as having “no antibiotics, ever” taken from products purchased from Whole Foods store shelves.

Bernard Rollin was one of the world’s leading animal ethicists and a fierce advocate for animal welfare.

You may be with the majority of Americans who rely too heavily on label claims by meat manufacturers but are we also duped by the certifiers?

Changing farming takes working with and learning from farmers directly. Internationalizing the fight beyond US borders ensures all farmers everywhere are heard and retain the right to farm according to their values.

Grocery chain Giant Eagle has revealed its plans to phase out all “One Health Certified” (OHC) chicken from its stores.

Myq Kaplan of Comedy Central, The Tonight Show, and Letterman fame has narrated a thought-provoking new video to combat false advertising by massive meat, egg, and dairy companies.

The U.S. District Court ruled that Farm Forward and a coalition of animal and environmental protection organizations have standing to sue the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), regarding regulations at pig slaughterhouses.  

Global Animal Partnership (GAP) seems dedicated to passing off low welfare standards as the gold standard, thus helping the purveyors of factory farmed products deceive shoppers.

While COVID-19 may have emerged from a wet market, the greater pandemic risk is our insatiable appetite for cheap, factory farmed meat.

Farm Forward has kicked off a campaign and ad blitz calling out the meat industry’s latest deceptive marketing scheme, “One Health Certified” (OHC), which now adorns Batavia, Illinois-based ALDI’s store-brand chicken.

Farm Forward supports the mega-dairy moratorium which would allow a pause in the permitting of new and expanding mega-dairies until meaningful protections can be enacted to protect Oregon’s air, water, climate, rural communities, small farmers and animal welfare.

In April 2020, after more than a decade of service, Farm Forward resigned, in protest, from the board of the nation’s largest legitimate animal welfare certification, Global Animal Partnership or GAP.

On June 14th, the Chicago Tribune published an opinion written by Farm Forward’s Executive Director Andrew deCoriolis in response to their coverage of an undercover investigation at Fair Oaks Farm, an industrial dairy operation in Indiana.

Industrial poultry farms are infamous for the commonly known “bird flu”, yet agribusiness continues being the breeding ground for pandemics.

USDA proposed harmful inspection rules that we have a chance to stop! Learn more about the rules and how you can make a difference here.

As I strolled along the park’s concrete path, I glanced over to find—gliding alongside me—an orca, a chinook salmon, monarch butterflies, and planet Earth itself.

Farm Forward joined a coalition of nearly two dozen farming, consumer, animal welfare, and environmental groups in asking Oregon leaders to put a moratorium on large, commercial dairies.

Earlier this year, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens joined the Leadership Circle by sourcing exclusively certified higher welfare chicken and turkey for their restaurant, Café Phipps.

Pope Francis was challenged by 12-year-old Genesis Butler to try eating a plant-based diet for Lent, with a promise of a million dollar donation to a charity of his choice should he say yes.

A first-of-its-kind campaign launched by Farm Forward in 2014 has resulted in the adoption of a new technology that spares day-old chicks from being slaughtered shortly after they hatch.

By purchasing whole animals from local higher welfare farms, UK demonstrates how institutions can improve animal welfare, support local economies, and reduce carbon emissions while maintaining affordable dining operations.

Our CEO, Dr. Aaron Gross, published a statement on sexual harassment and discrimination, in response to documented reports of such incidents taking place in the animal protection movement.