Program Term Archive
Farmed Animals
Higher Welfare Method for Stunning Pigs Gains Ground
Farmed AnimalsIn the United States, federal regulations require that pigs be stunned prior to slaughter by one of four methods: electricity, chemicals (gas), captive bolt device, or gunshot. The smallest slaughter...
United Nations Adopts Animal Welfare Recommendations
Farmed AnimalsThis fall, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Committee on World Food Security (CWFS) met in Rome to discuss pertinent issues related to sustainable agriculture development for food security and...
USDA Thwarts Efforts to Improve School Lunch Programs
Farmed AnimalsImagine 3,000 dead chickens piled in a truck after a company failed to protect them from freezing conditions during transport, or watching someone at a slaughterhouse place the heads (instead...
AWI Sues USDA for Failure to Prevent Suffering of Animals at Slaughter
Press ReleaseDecember 14, 2016Farmed AnimalsThe Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) late yesterday filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its unreasonable delay in responding to an AWI petition—filed in May 2013—to amend the...
Darden Restaurants’ CEO Undeserving of Leadership Award, Say Activist Groups
Press ReleaseOctober 19, 2016Farmed AnimalsIn a letter sent today to Nation’s Restaurant News, a coalition of 15 environmental, animal welfare and worker justice organizations with over 10 million supporters expressed dismay over the publication’s decision to honor...
Egg Producers Acknowledge Need to END Male Chick Culling
Farmed AnimalsUnited Egg Producers (UEP), an industry group representing the interests of egg farmers throughout the United States, says it will seek to eliminate the culling of male chicks. Because male...
New Humane Slaughter Guidelines Released
Farmed AnimalsThe American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has published its first-ever set of guidelines for the humane slaughter of mammals and birds. In it, the AVMA addresses several recommendations offered by...
Perdue Says it will Improve Poultry Practices
Farmed AnimalsPerdue Farms, one of America’s largest industrial poultry producers, unveiled a plan in June designed to “accelerate its progress in poultry care.” Perdue claims that the plan, to be implemented...
Birds Left to Suffer in Slaughter Plant Holding Areas
Farmed AnimalsThe welfare of birds at slaughter is not solely a matter of what happens once they pass through the doors of the slaughter establishment. Abuse and unnecessary suffering can occur...
China Aims to Cut Meat Consumption in Half
Farmed AnimalsChina’s health ministry has announced new dietary guidelines for the nation’s 1.4 billion inhabitants. The guidelines now recommend no more than 40 to 75 grams (1.4 to 2.6 ounces) of...