Smithfield Foods To Stop Using Gestation Crates For Pigs By 2017

RICHMOND, Va. -- Smithfield Foods Inc., the world's largest pork producer, said Thursday it plans to end the practice of keeping pregnant hogs at the company's farms in small metal crates.

The Smithfield, Va.-based company, which has been criticized for continuing to breed sows in gestation crates that severely restrict the animals' movement, said it will phase out the use of gestation crates at its facilities by 2017. By the end of this year, the company said that 30 percent of the sows at its farms will be in group housing rather than the crates.

"(Our customers) want us to do that, and we've heard them loud and clear," CEO Larry Pope said in a conference call with investors regarding its second-quarter financial results. "This company is going to do what's in the best interest of the business and the best interest of our customers."

The company previously had been in the process of converting a number of its sow farms from individual gestation stalls to group housing for pregnant sows by 2017, but Pope said it "took a two-year holiday" from that conversion in order to deal with the economic downturn the last few years.

Smithfield's livestock subsidiary produces about 17 million market hogs each year at about 460 hog farms in the U.S., but it is unclear how many of those are breeding farms. It also partners with about 2,135 independent farmers and contract growers in the U.S. to raise hogs.

In the practice that Smithfield is phasing out, female pigs are kept in gestation crates where they stay during their four-month pregnancies. Afterward, they are moved for about three weeks to a crate large enough to nurse their piglets before being artificially inseminated and placed back into the crates.

Smithfield Foods' announcement comes a month after The Humane Society of the United States filed a complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission saying the company was misleading consumers by suggesting it does not abuse pigs. The animal-rights group says the gestation crates and other abuses continue at Smithfield facilities, violating federal securities laws that prohibit companies from making false or misleading statements.

On the heels of animal abuse allegations at one of its hog farms, Smithfield released a new series of online videos that provide an in-depth look at pork production at the company's Murphy-Brown livestock production subsidiary, based in North Carolina. The Humane Society had said the rosy picture painted in the video series contrasts sharply with the results of its own undercover investigation of a Smithfield facility in Virginia.

A year ago, the organization released photos and video showing about 1,000 large female pigs crammed into gestation crates. The investigation also uncovered other alleged abuses, including a pig being shot with a stun gun and tossed into a trash bin while still alive and prematurely born piglets falling through gestation crate grates and dying in manure pits.

"Smithfield's recommitment is an important and welcome move. With the company back on track with its phase-out, I think we're getting closer to a day when the cruel confinement of pigs in gestation crates will be a bygone era for the entire pig industry," Paul Shapiro, the organization's senior director of farm animal protection.

Shapiro added that the company's move is an important step but other there are still other issues with the treatment of the animals. He also encouraged Smithfield's competitors like Tyson Foods Inc. and Hormel Foods Corp. to "stop lagging behind" and adopt a similar policy.

___

Comments

[gb4evrn2]

08:02 AM on 12/21/2011

I also, do not understand why when a company makes a decision to do something it takes years before it will be implemented. If they say they are going to change things, then they should start to change from day one, not ten years down the road.

[gb4evrn2]

08:00 AM on 12/21/2011

how disgusting. from now on I will not use smithfield products. Why are any animals allowed to be treated like this? How can anyone, farmers or anyone, live with their conscience with regard to things like this? I have not eaten veal since I learned about how they treat the calves, and that has been more than twenty five years. So I guess I can live without Smithfield too. Change your ways Smithfield and all you other companies who do not do things humanely

[exilist]

03:32 AM on 12/13/2011

5 years. Just long enough to make everyone forget about it when they can renege.

[archarabia]

04:21 PM on 12/11/2011

"This company is going to do what's in the best interest of the business and the best interest of our customers."

Translation: we don't give a damn about humane treatment, just our bottom line.

[dadofoh49]

06:44 AM on 12/21/2011

how True and that's why I'll no longer buy pork. Paula Dean should be ashamed for pushing their product

[shojo1969]

07:34 AM on 12/21/2011

I stopped eating it a long time ago, it is just too gross and cruel. "Humane Slaughter" rules are seldom followed.

[mlaiuppa]

06:59 PM on 12/10/2011

2017? They can't get rid of them faster? Or is the delay so they can fight it and continue to use them?

[GODSWILLFIRST]

12:00 PM on 12/10/2011

Words of wisdom, truth:

"[A] long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason." ~ Thomas Paine, Common Sense

"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence that it is not utterly absurd; indeed, in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more often likely to be foolish than sensible." ~ Bertrand Russell

"If a group of beings from another planet were to land on Earth -- beings who considered themselves as superior to you as you feel yourself to be to other animals -- would you concede them the rights over you that you assume over other animals?" ~ George Bernard Shaw

Quite frankly, just because we've been doing something for a long period of time, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it was right from the start. History provides ample testimony of how completely wrong we've been time and time again towards all other beings - humans and non-humans, alike.

For those who are interested in a video, please watch:

Best Speech You Will Ever Hear - Gary Yourofsky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMmC4

Truth lies deep within.

[Oginikwe]

12:50 AM on 12/12/2011

Great comment: Fanned & faved

[patianneb]

10:47 AM on 12/10/2011

Americans eat an average of 200 POUNDS of meat per year. Anyone who thinks this is healthy for humans, let alone the animals who suffer so people can eat cheaply, needs only look around at our population.
For a heallthy diet which includes meat, only about 40 pounds is sufficient.
The problem lies in the difference...to the environment, animals and humans.

[jacmed]

09:45 AM on 12/10/2011

And that is precisely why I buy all my meat from a co-op made up of small farmers who deliver whatever I order once a month. Yes, it's more expensive, but very well worth it! We eat out very, very seldom since we started getting this meat because we no longer like the taste of the meats the restaurants serve, so the savings from not eating out once a week or so (like we used to five years ago) more than makes up for the extra expense!

[mlaiuppa]

07:00 PM on 12/10/2011

If food was more expensive, maybe we'd be less wasteful and appreciate it more. We'd also eat a lot less. We'd also supplement the expensive with healthier inexpensive, such as vegetables and legumes.

[jacmed]

08:40 PM on 12/10/2011

Absolutely, mlaiuppa - almost! As far as the veggies and legumes (and carbs, like rice or potatoes), we haven't increased that intake at all but are satisfied with less meat. We've found that the organic/natural meats are more "dense," with a lot less shrinkage when cooked. I know that sounds silly, but let's put it this way. Before, when I was supermarket shopping, I'd buy two 3/4-lb. steaks, one for me, one for my hubby, and there was no leftover meat. Since buying pasteured/organic/natural meats, I buy one 1-lb. steak, we split it for dinner with a normal amount of veggie/legume/carb, and there's still enough left over for one of us to have with our eggs for breakfast or for lunch with a salad. We're satisfied on less meat - no antibiotics, no hormones, and no water-logged feed to the animals possibly have something to do with it, but I really don't know and, frankly, don't really care - we're happy with what we're eating, have zero health problems, take no medications, sleep well, etc. so we must be doing something right, at least for us.

[Stevenson52]

08:35 PM on 12/11/2011

Kudos!

[Anne Hogan]

01:43 PM on 12/09/2011

At the HSUS we're pleased with Smithfield's decision to reinstate their commitment to phasing out the use of cruel gestation crates.

[NathaninSeattle]

04:18 AM on 12/10/2011

Have you seen the inside of a factory farm that does not use gestation crates? It's a dang horror film, just the same. This is just another pathetic attempt on the part of HSUS to raise funds and dope people into believing the happy meat myth. There is no humane way to raise animals for food, and less than one percent of animal products come from the dream land of small farms. Wake up.

[FaunaAndFlora]

12:56 AM on 12/11/2011

I've been inside a large hog operation that doesn't use gestation crates. Their animals are kept in large indoor pens in well-ventilated barns with good lighting and sprinkler systems to keep the hogs cool and clean. The only time their sows are confined is for a few weeks before and after they farrow, but this is for the protection of the piglets and the humans who monitor and may have to assist a sow during the farrowing. Do I like the way they raise their hogs? No, but I wouldn't call it inhumane. On the other hand, I prefer to buy my pork from a farmer who raises 40 or 50 hogs every year for a few privileged customers. His hogs are raised outdoors and allowed to root in dirt. Of course, he can do this because he doesn't rely on the hogs for income.

There are humane ways to raise animals for food. I know this because I raise goats, lambs and ducks for food and have also raised rabbits, chickens, geese and turkeys in the past. What you fail to understand is that there are no humane ways to raise crops, at least not on a large scale. You cannot grow crops without destroying habitats. You cannot destroy habitats without causing animals to suffer and die. The animals that I raise for meat die, but they do not suffer.

[fuzzynormal]

09:44 AM on 12/09/2011

To hell with industrial food. If the company doesn't respect the food, neither will I...nor your company.

Don't know how that sentiment is going to win out in a world where most Americans have no clue, nor want to know where their food comes from.

Quantity over quality will always, always, always be an inferior way to feed people. You gotta let the animal do what it's supposed to do during it's life before bringing it to slaughter (in the case of pigs, root around and move)

[Andrew Gunther]

09:33 AM on 12/09/2011

There needs to be growth of and purchase of product from farmers and programs that do not abuse there animals workers and the planet! http://www.animalwelfareapproved.org/consumers/

[only1nik]

08:20 AM on 12/09/2011

I read some of the comments on here. ultimately, animals are a good source of food, but not when you produce them like they are not living beings. I can't do it all the time, since I do eat out often, but I try to only buy meats and poultry from sources that humanely treat their animals before slaughter. If we stop buying this crap, eventually these companies will have to change their practices. i do not think going vegetarian is ultimately the answer since many people would become unhealthy on that type of diet. so just make better choices as to the source of your food. I limit my pork consumption as it is and will make sure I do not buy their products.

[frank day]

09:11 AM on 12/09/2011

" i do not think going vegetarian is ultimately the answer since many people would become unhealthy on that type of diet."

Absolutely untrue.

[only1nik]

09:38 AM on 12/09/2011

maybe for you but not all people are healthy on a low protein diet.

[nicolerowan]

02:36 PM on 12/09/2011

My grandma continues to believe that I am limited in my food choices and yet most of the time when I tell her what I am cooking for my family for dinner, she says, "Oh I have never heard of that" or "I have never tried that". I am not talking about fake meat products either - but things like seaweed, turnips, fava beans, sprouted salads, etc.

The issue is that meat eaters, in general, really limit themselves to meat and so choose not to fathom the incredible diversity of foods available to create a healthy, balanced diet. I am not putting down my grandma either, but we agree that we on this one, we just don't understand each other.

[Vgman]

05:00 AM on 12/09/2011

How about doing it because it is just the right thing to do? If you are going to raise the animal to kill it, the least you can do is to give it a more comfortable environment. As for your customers, I guess it is nice that they "care" about their animals, but a better thing to do would be to stop eating the animals.

[GODSWILLFIRST]

10:12 PM on 12/08/2011

Why is it that "most" meat minions deliberately avoid every serious ethical question surrounding meat while running scared with their tail between their legs the whole time? If you want change, man up/women up, whatever the case may be!

[Chris Berry]

05:56 PM on 12/09/2011

"But it's sooooo tasty!" If babies were tasty would you eat them too?

"But we had to eat meat when we were cavemen!" We also waged wars with other tribes over fruits. So next time somebody is about to grab the last pineapple at a supermarket I can stab them with a knife, right?

"But we're on top of the food chain!" So if some species evolved that could over-power us it would have a moral right to eat us for pleasure? Or if some race of humans became more powerful than another race they would have a moral right to enslave the less powerful race?

"But we're smarter than the animals we eat!" So you can eat mentally disabled people?

More serious ethical arguments would be: "But I need meat to stay healthy" or "Animals have a right to live comfortable lives but don't have a right to life itself". Of course, anybody who makes those sensible arguments to defend eating meat would have to admit that 99%+ of the meat on the market doesn't afford a comfortable life to animals, and the vast majority of meat consumed is for pleasure and for the most part unnecessary to sustain good health.

[FaunaAndFlora]

12:48 AM on 12/10/2011

So let me get this straight. You think it's wrong to kill an animal for meat but okay to destroy habitats and kill animals in order to grow crops? Some animals can be raised on nothing more than pasture and hay. When properly managed, pasturing these animals also rebuild topsoil, recharge watersheds and increase biodiversity. Not that this is the rule in developed countries, but it could be. On the other hand, there is no way to grow crops on a large scale without eroding topsoils, depleting watersheds and reducing biodiversity.

[NathaninSeattle]

04:14 AM on 12/10/2011

And also, there is no such thing as a food chain, and it's widely scientifically dismissed. Food webs, yes, where humans exist alongside sharks, lions, etc. Food chain argument = rubbish.

[SanJoaquinValleyGrower]

11:11 PM on 12/13/2011

yawn
"most" pro meat people who post here raise their own, or buy from humane sources

[Freedom Rush]

09:59 PM on 12/08/2011

hows about we stop buying smithfield products NOW

[Tracee Collins]

09:53 AM on 12/09/2011

BOYCOTTED!!! FANNED!!

[plantbasedpunk]

11:28 AM on 12/09/2011

Hows about we stop buying factory farmed meat (which accounts for 99% of the meat produced and consumed in this country). It's not just a Smithfield problem, it's an industry problem.

[FarmLuv]

06:15 PM on 12/09/2011

Or why don't you buy meat from a local place where you can actually visit and see how your meat is being raised?

[Freedom Rush]

10:51 PM on 12/09/2011

agreed, my friend.