Chicken Factory
By Catherine Haug, August 23, 2014 (photo, right, from Factory Farming.com (3))
Take Part news blog reports that three major grocery manufacturers pledge to force positive changes in their supply chain, affecting animal cruelty and climate change. But they have so far refused to force another needed change; can you guess what that is?
Positive changes
Take Part news blog published an interesting article: Food Giant Nestle Tackles Animal Cruelty on Factory Farms, in which James Best reports on August 21, 2014 (1):
“The company has vowed, among other things, to rid its supply chain of a litany of cruelly confining crates and cages, such as gestation crates for sows, veal crates for calves, and cages for egg-laying chickens. It has also pledged to ban unnecessary and inhuman practices such as cutting the horns from cattle, particularly those that have traditionally been done without painkillers.”
This is good news, as Nestle “obtains its milk, meat, and eggs from some 7,300 suppliers worldwide.” (1). However, based on past history, the CAFOs affected will probably just find another inhumane way to crowd their animals in small spaces.
In another article, Two Giants of the Food Industry Vow to Tackle Climate Change, James Best reports on August 14, 2014 (2):
“Bowing to public pressure, industrial food giant Kellogg’s announced a major initiative to tackle its global warming emissions yesterday , leapfrogging ahead of rival General Mills. The latter announced its own ‘sweeping commitments’ to address climate change a mere few weeks ago.”
Mr. Best attributes these turn-arounds to “Grassroots campaigning—or, to be specific, what might be called corn-and-soy-root campaigning.” (2)
A glaring omission
Before you decide to support these companies whole-heartedly, consider this: All three are members of the GMA (Grocery Manufacturers Association), which is funding the anti-GMO labeling campaign. They are responsible for the recent GMO-labeling referenda to be defeated in California in Washington, and continue to pour money into a campaign to defeat a similar referendum in Oregon.
If you pledge to boycott the GMA members – a type of grassroots campaigning – you just might be able to get the GMA to turn around on the GMO issue, too. If this interests you, go to OCA’s Boycott GMA Page (4) to sign a pledge. Please note that this boycott includes some familiar Organic brands (even though the Organic products are GMO-free, the companies that make them are owned by larger companies who are members of the GMA). These are referred to as “Traitor Brands,” and include examples: Kashi (breakfast cereals), Muir Glen (tomato products), Plum Organics, RW Knutsen (fruit juices), Dagoba (chocolates) and more.
For more information on the boycott, GMA members and brands, see OCA sites:
- More about the boycott
- GMA members
- Download your wallet-sized boycott guide
- Download the boycott poster
See also TheBoycotList.org
References
- Take Part article by James Best, takepart.com/article/2014/08/21/nestle-tackles-animal-cruelty
- Take Part article by James Best, takepart.com/article/2014/08/14/food-giants-tackle-climate-change
- Factory Farming.com photo (factoryfarming.com/gallery/broiler01.htm)
- OCA’s Boycott GMA Page: salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50865/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8959