July 4, 2011

JBS customer declares pork boycott

JBS customer, retail warehouse chain Costco, declared on Thursday (Jun 30) that it would not be carrying Iowa Select Farms' pork products as the farm has been targeted by a Chicago-based animal rights group due to its alleged mistreatment of sows and piglets.

JBS Swift immediately stopped all purchases from the Kamrar, Iowa, farm where the video was taken - not Iowa Select as a whole until "we are satisfied with reliable third-party verification that they're following proper procedures and practices," JBS Director of Communications Margaret McDonald said. Neither the auditor nor the timing of the audit has been determined yet.

"The next step is for Iowa Select to provide a detailed action plan going forward, which will address the areas of non-compliance to PQA Plus Guidelines," McDonald added.

JBS buys from other pork producers across the US, and the company's decision not to buy pork from one farm likely will not affect its sales to retailers.

Meanwhile, by Thursday afternoon, Safeway, Kroger and Costco all had released statements themselves announcing that they would not be carrying Iowa Select products.

"We have halted purchases from JBS Swift (Swift Pork Co.) while a thorough investigation is conducted into the operations of Swift's supplier, Iowa Select Farms," Safeway spokeswoman Teena Massingill said.

Yet she echoed sentiments among the pork industry that the real reason of the release of the video was not so much to highlight so-called animal cruelty practices but the widespread use of gestation stalls (also called gestation crates). "We continue to pursue our goal of increasing the amount of pork, as supplies become available, from North American suppliers that are phasing out the use of gestation crates. We also continue to effect change within the industry by advocating for suppliers to phase out the use of gestation crates," she added.

Among industry criticism of the video is that one scene, which apparently shows an employee using blunt force to euthanise a piglet, likely was staged. The employee is suspected to have been one of the short-term employees working for Mercy for Animals, and the pig is suspected to have already been euthanised when the blunt force occurred.

"It is a vegan agenda," McDonald added. "They are going after gestation crates and animal agriculture in the long run."