March 30, 2007

Burger King takes a step towards animal-friendly buying policies

In a move that marked a shift towards improved animal welfare in the US, Burger King announced it would buy 2 percent of its from farmers who do not keep birds in wire battery cages, and purchase 10 percent of its pork from farms that allow sows to move freely.

The fast-food restaurant chain also added it would expand its purchases of the cage-free eggs and pork as the supply increases and pricing becomes competitive.

Burger King and its franchise holders operate some 11,100 restaurants in the United States and at least 65 other countries.

The restaurant also said it would encourage poultry suppliers to use controlled stunning or gas their chickens as opposed to electric shocks to render birds unconscious before they are slaughtered and processed.

Controlled stunning is preferable as it kills birds by depriving them of oxygen. This process supposedly causes them less suffering than paralyzing them alive through electrocution, the US Humane Society said.

The US Humane Society welcomed the move, saying that Burger King is signalling to agribusiness that the most inhumane factory farming practices are on the way out.