Whole Foods Feeds Compassion with Global 5% Day, January 25

	Lighthouse Animal Sanctuary

By Susanne Abromaitis

If you're a consumer concerned about animal welfare, Whole Foods Market, a leader in organic and natural foods, is offering you a chance to put your money where your mouth is. On January 25, the grocery retailer will allocate five percent of all sales to create a nonprofit foundation to further the humane treatment of farm animals. Together with an associated research foundation, Whole Foods aims to promote the education and success of farmers and ranchers who treat animals humanely.

With funds collected on "Global 5% Day," Whole Foods plans to establish the Animal Compassion Foundation, an independent entity charged with carrying out "education and research to assist and inspire ranchers and meat producers to achieve a higher standard of animal welfare excellence while still maintaining economic viability."

The company will also create the Farm Animal Welfare Research Foundation to fund academic research promoting compassionate farming methods. The research foundation may also serve as a resource center and forum for global technology exchange—so farmers in the United States can learn from their counterparts in other countries, including Sweden, Poland and New Zealand. The Animal Compassion Foundation also plans to create an online library to help other interested ranchers and farmers successfully convert to animal compassionate methods.

For compassionate consumers who eat meat, milk and eggs, but insist that these products come only from animals raised humanely and sustainably, Global 5% Day represents an opportunity to redirect money to support positive efforts for farm animals. The promotion is the brainchild of Whole Foods' CEO John Mackey, who founded the company in 1980 in Austin, Texas, and claims to have "helped instigate the transformation of the food industry back to naturalness."

With annual sales topping $3.9 billion in 2004, Whole Foods would certainly appear to have the clout to raise the bar for animal welfare. A typical sales day at Whole Foods totals approximately $10 million, so initial funding for the foundation will be around $500,000. This seed money will be added to as additional funding sources are realized, but the impetus for change will come from the consumer.

In recent years, there has been a movement in the grocery and restaurant industry to create non-compulsory standards for animal producers due to growing consumer concern over these issues. In 2003, the Food Marketing Institute and the National Council of Chain Restaurants issued standards for improved animal welfare from their suppliers.

Among those restaurants is McDonald's, which has been raising its standards for farm animal treatment and reducing the use of sub-therapeutic antibiotics in response to consumer demand. Such changes are significant because they may signal positive change for the nine billion animals raised for food in the United States every year.

If consumer-driven change is the wave of the future, Mackey says he plans to respond. "I intend to lead Whole Foods to taking a more responsible position on animal welfare issues." At a recent visioning meeting, the company's stakeholder groups identified animal compassion standards as one of the company's top aspirations.

Other Options

If you're trying to be a compassionate-minded consumer, there are many ways to shop that can benefit farm animals. The HSUS's Eat Thoughtfully, Buy Locally program has a number of suggestions for you to follow, from talking to local farmers about how they raise animals to joining a community-supported agriculture plan.

You may also wish to ask your local grocer to stock products stamped with the Certified Humane label. Launched in 2003 by Humane Farm Animal Care and supported by The HSUS, Certified Humane is a label for meat, dairy, and egg products produced with animal welfare in mind. Among other things, certification requires that animals:

• Are allowed to engage in natural behaviors.

• Have sufficient space, shelter and gentle handling to limit stress.

• Have ample fresh water and a healthy diet free of antibiotics and hormones.

Whole Foods is in the process of developing Animal Compassionate certifications for every species sold. Drawing from a team of animal scientists, farmers, and animal advocates, including The HSUS, the company plans to expand on requirements with which their animal product suppliers must comply:

• Ducks must have sufficient water to swim in and sufficient ground cover in which to forage; no bill-trimming.

• Veal calves must be group-housed; no tethering or individual crates.

• No gestation crates for pregnant sows; freedom of movement should be provided in farrowing pens, and bedding materials should be provided to pigs to satisfy natural rooting instincts.

• Lambs must be pasture-raised.

• Supplying operations must submit information annually on animal welfare in transport and in slaughter facilities.

• No antibiotics, animal by-products, or supplemental growth hormones in feed.

An auditing process, including unannounced farm inspections, is meant to lend transparency to the certification process.

What You Can Do

The HSUS is encouraging consumers to shop at Whole Foods on January 25 to help support the creation of the Animal Compassion Foundation. Whole Foods Market has 166 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

If you believe in Whole Foods' mission of improving standards for farm animals and wish to see real change for animals, rural communities, farmers and the environment, use the power of your dollar—your compassion will make change happen.

Susanne Abromaitis is a campaigner for the Farm Animals and Sustainable Agriculture section at The HSUS.

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