Retailers, restaurants and foodservice companies should be cautious when contacted by groups who are encouraging them to adopt sourcing policies that are perceived to promote better animal welfare, advises Hannah Thomspon-Weeman, vice president of communications for the Animal Agriculture Alliance.
Animal rights activist groups are continuing their push toward these businesses to convert their entire egg supply to cage-free eggs, and their entire chicken supply to farms that only use slower-growing broiler breeds.
But these advocates do not necessarily have the welfare of the animals in mind, nor do they have the best interest of the businesses they contact in mind. Instead, she said, the motive is often to raise production costs and therefore drive up the prices to the consumer.
Thompson-Weeman suggests businesses do their research, and get input from researchers, farmers and others with a more direct knowledge about the health and welfare of animals.
