The Humane League initiated a campaign pressuring the leading pizza chains in the United States to issue public statements about their standards for chicken welfare.
At the same time, the animal rights organization praised a handful of mostly smaller pizza establishments for adopting the Better Chicken Commitment standards.
On a webpage titled “The Price of a Slice,” The Humane League, which earlier put pressure on numerous companies for not providing updates on their progress to meeting their cage-free egg commitments, is now pushing pizza businesses to adopt poultry welfare policies.
“America’s beloved pizza sector was fortunate to see a dramatic increase in sales during the COVID-19 pandemic Despite this, not all pizza chains have paid that fortune forward to improve the welfare of the chickens in their supply chains,” The Humane League stated. “This report highlightxs the pizza restaurants that are making the least and most progress on chicken welfare.”
Chains listed as not having made a chicken welfare pledge include: Little Caesars, Papa Murphy’s, MOD, RoundTable, Pizza Hut, Peter Piper Pizza, Hungry Howie’s, Domino’s, Sbarro, Pizza Ranch, Donatos, Chuck E. Cheese, Godfather’s Pizza, Mellow Mushroom, Marco’s Pizza, Old Chicago, Fazoli’s, Mountain Mike’s Pizza and Uno Pizzeria & Grill.
The companies praised by The Humane League for adopting Better Chicken Commitment standards are: Papa John’s, Blaze Pizza, Oath Pizza, The Star Pizza, and &pizza.
The Better Chicken Commitment, according to its website, has two versions. One calls for the exclusive sourcing of chicken certified by the Global Animal Partnership (GAP) by 2024 and requires all chickens to be processed in a manner that utilizes controlled atmosphere stunning.
The other version calls for a maximum stocking density of 6 pounds per square feet, providing enrichments for the birds, and use of controlled atmosphere stunning by 2024 and the use of breeds that meet the GAP or Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) standards by 2026.
