Whole Foods Market has announced that it is stepping away from fast growing chickens and will only buy (and sell) chickens that grow at a more natural pace by 2024, according to a statement released by Whole Foods Market.
Whole Foods Market has made the commitment to support slower-growing chickens in conjunction with Global Animal Partnership (GAP). Whole Foods Market set up GAP to create welfare standards for its suppliers when it comes to buying meats. This change will make a huge difference to the lives of literally billions of birds. Whole Foods Market sells 277 million birds annually according to NPR, and Whole Foods Market intends to apply the new welfare standards to all of the chickens is sells.
Why @WholeFoods wants a slower-growing chicken https://t.co/Dmf6GZ49uY pic.twitter.com/wIjaKiq0Qa
— LAist 89.3 (@KPCC) March 30, 2016
Learn how Global Animal Partnership is making a difference http://t.co/0tniQiXlxv pic.twitter.com/RBA0qQKZKV
— Global Animal Partnership (@CertifiedGAP) August 26, 2015
GAP announced its intention to require only slower-growing chicken breeds for certification for all levels of its 5-Step® Rating Program. This is due to the “unresolvable welfare issues inherent in fast-growing breeds of chicken.”
Theo Weening is the global meat buyer for Whole Foods Market and is an expert when it comes to finding meats that are quality and brought up in a more ethical way. As the wave of organic meats has taught us, happier animals that are raised outdoors and fed properly produce better meat and make buyers feel better about their choices.
“Since 2011, Whole Foods Market has used Global Animal Partnership’s 5-Step Rating system to provide our customers with standards and information around how the animal was raised for the meat they buy…Supporting this additional commitment to improve chicken welfare is a step forward in continuing to provide our customers with products of the highest quality and flavor.” Weening said.
Weening said a lot of the Whole Foods Markets that he stocksfor already sell a small amount of pastured chickens but he wants to increase that number over the next decade. “I’m on my way this afternoon to Arkansas, to Crystal Lake Farms, [which] uses a slow-growing chicken.”
Not only will the slower growing birds mean happier chickens but they taste better as well, providing an all-round superior bird.
“[The slow-growing bird] is a much better, healthier chicken, and at the same time it’s a much [more] flavorful chicken as well.”
The push to buy birds that grow at a slower pace is not only becoming popular in the U.S. but has also taken off in Europe where farmers prefer to raise their chickens the “old fashioned way” where they run around outdoors, can scratch and pick at the ground, socialize, and get fresh air.
U.S. Farmers initially turned to faster-growing chickens, known as broilers, because of the increase in demand for chicken across America as seen in data provided by the National Chicken Council . But now it has come to light that breeding these chickens is cruel, demand has turned to organic and ethical.
William Muir, a poultry geneticist at Purdue University, said the birds are growing so fast and gaining so much weight that the young chicken’s bones are being overwhelmed.
“We’re having problems with legs. They can’t support the weight. We have problems with splayed legs, joint problems. This is a major well-being concern, if the bird can’t walk.” Muir said.
Due to the cruel way the birds are grown animal welfare advocates have been calling out poultry companies and pressed them to return to a slower-growing and more natural breeds of chickens.
According to Time, the increase in the size of the chickens is met by the increase in cows who are also fed way to much cheap feed to beef them up so they can be sent to slaughter quicker. Cows are kept in feedlots longer , restricting the time where they can walk around and be social.
According to people on Twitter, Whole Foods Market, and a lot of other boutique and ethical supermarkets and butchers across the U.S., the trade off of cheap meat for birds that can not walk is not worth it.
Would you get behind a chick that’s allowed more time to grow? via @NPRFood @nprDanCharles @WholeFoods https://t.co/cCZKMK9gqE
— Abbie F. Swanson (@dearabbie) March 30, 2016
Dan Charles talks about industrial #factoryfarm chicken that grows too fast, leads to #animalwelfare problems @npr https://t.co/ZtTk7O21mG
— Center for Food Safety (@CFSTrueFood) March 30, 2016
Whole Foods and Bon Appétit Announce Groundbreaking Chicken Welfare Standards https://t.co/pMHuXd2WEM by @MercyForAnimals
— Oximity AnimalRights (@OximityAnimalRt) March 29, 2016
Global Animal Partnership Commits to Requiring 100% Slower-Growing Chicken Breeds by 2024 https://t.co/b9G8c4DQxh @Reuters
— World Animal Protection Australia (@MoveTheWorldAU) March 21, 2016
[Photo by Gavin Parsons/Getty Images]
