Burger King, Wolfgang Puck embrace animal welfare

Miami, Florida-based Burger King announced new animal welfare standards 28 March 2007.

The nation’s second largest fast food chain says it:

*  has begun purchasing two percent of its eggs from producers that don't confine laying hens in battery cages. It will more than double the percentage of cage-free eggs it's using to five percent by the end of the year.

*  has implemented a purchasing preference for cage-free eggs. Such a preference is intended to favor producers that convert away from battery-cage confinement systems.

*  has implemented a preference for producers that use controlled atmosphere killing of chickens used for meat. This has been shown to cause significantly less suffering than the conventional method of slaughter used by most of the nation's poultry slaughterers.

"With its new policy changes, Burger King is signaling to agribusiness that the most inhumane factory farming practices are on the way out," Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS said in a news release.

Also last month (22 March), Los Angeles, California-based Wolfgang Puck and the Wolfgang Puck Companies announced the “Wolfgang's Eating, Loving and Living' (WELL)” program, which includes a commitment to sourcing only from purveyors who treat their animals, produce, and the earth in which they grow it well.

“Our guests want to know the meals they eat in my restaurants are made with fresh, natural, organic ingredients,” master chef Wolfgang Puck said in a news release. “They want to know where the produce comes from and how the animals are raised. In short, they want to eat healthy food in good conscience, and they know that we can make healthy taste delicious.”