Campbell Soup makes broiler welfare pledge

Campbell Soup Company has approved broiler welfare guidelines that its suppliers are expected to adhere to by 2024.

Roy Graber Headshot
Photo by Roy Graber
Photo by Roy Graber

Campbell Soup Company has approved broiler welfare guidelines that its suppliers are expected to adhere to by 2024.

The standards are included in the company’s recently released animal welfare guidelines.

“In 2017, Campbell committed to working with our suppliers to improve the treatment of broiler chickens while thoughtfully addressing the impact of these standards on the farmers from which we source. We will continuously work with NGOs, growers, suppliers, competitors and other industry stakeholders to identify cost-effective solutions for our industry,” the company stated.

According to the policy, the company will move its entire broiler supply to these standards:

  • Transition to strains of birds approved by Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) or Global Animal Partnership (GAP) that are scientifically recognized as having higher welfare outcomes
  • Provide more space for chickens (reduce stocking density to a maximum of 6 lbs./sq. ft.)
  • Offer improved environments including litter, lighting, and enrichment that meet GAP’s new standards
  • Process chickens in a manner that avoids pre-stun handling and instead utilizes multistep controlled atmospheric stunning
  • Demonstrate compliance with the above via third party auditing

With the pledge, Campbell joins a growing list companies to adopt policies related to broiler welfare concerns. Most companies pledging so far are either in the foodservice or restaurant industries, but Campbell’s is presently the third food processor to make such a commitment. General Mills and Unilever have also made similar pledges.

Updates on meeting other goals

In the new animal welfare guidelines, Campbell offered updates in meeting previously stated goals.

The company has previously pledged to eliminate gestation crates from its pork supply chain. As of September, Campbell Soup Company was 34 percent on its way to meeting that goal.

The company in 2016 committed to transition to a 100 percent cage-free egg supply by 2025.  Presently,12 percent of the eggs sourced by the company come from cage-free laying systems.

Concerning antibiotic use in its broiler supply, Campbell earlier in 2017 committed to sourcing only chicken raised without antibiotics. The company reported the conversion is about 90 percent complete, and expects to reach the 100 percent mark before the end of the year. 

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