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The HSUS
Pregnant hogs are seen in small stalls in a photo provided by The Humane Society of the United States to back up its allegations that Smithfield Foods was abusing the animals. The group said the photo was taken at a Smithfield plant in Waverly, Va., in November 2010.
Two years after shelving a pledge to phase out its practice of confining pregnant hogs in small, metal stalls, the world's largest pork producer on Thursday said it was ready to recommit. That was welcome news to the Humane Society of the United States, which had filed a complaint against the practice, and it urged Smithfield Foods' competitors to follow suit.
"(Our customers) want us to do that, and we've heard them loud and clear," Smithfield CEO Larry Pope said in a conference call with investors. "This company is going to do what's in the best interest of the business and the best interest of our customers."
Pregnant pigs are kept in gestation stalls where they stay during their four-month pregnancies. Afterward, they are moved for about three weeks to a stall large enough to nurse their piglets before being artificially inseminated and placed back into the stall for another round of breeding.
By the end of 2011, Smithfield said, 30 percent of its sows will be in group housing rather than in the stalls, and a complete phase-out should be done by 2017 -- the date initially set by the company in 2007 but then shelved in 2009.
Pope said the company "took a two-year holiday" from that conversion in order to deal with the economic downturn.
Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle didn't focus on the two-year delay, instead welcoming the move. "We recognize Smithfield's recommitment as progress," he said in a statement, "and urge its competitors such as Tyson, Hormel, Triumph, Prestage, Seaboard, and others to stop lagging behind and follow suit by adopting similar policies."
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Smithfield produces about 17 million market hogs a year at about 460 hog farms in the U.S. It also partners with more than 2,100 independent hog farmers and contract growers in the U.S.
The move comes a month after the Humane Society filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission, alleging that Smithfield was misleading investors and consumers by suggesting it does not abuse pigs.
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A year ago, the group released photos and video showing about 1,000 large female pigs crammed into gestation stalls at a Smithfield facility in Virginia. The undercover operation also revealed 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 stall grates and dying in manure pits.
Msnbc.com's Miguel Llanos and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
I'm sure starving people worldwide will rejoice.
So you are okay with animal cruelty Norton? Shame on you. It's bad enough we eat animals. The least we can do is to treat them humanely.
If we don't eat them something else will.
I give props to this producer. Happy pig healthy meat.
Ummm...no. You are clearly uninformed about Smithfield's record. First of all, nothing about Smithfield lends itself to "Happy pig healthy meat". They are one of the worst abusers of animals in factory farming. See the links above regarding the undercover video and pictures taken in their facilities. Second, they grow 17 million pigs a year, but only because people buy their pork. If we didn't eat them, they wouldn't have been grown in the first place. These are not wild pigs being hunted. Also, the growing of all these pigs creates massive amounts of waste that end up destroying rivers and farmland throughout the Midwest, in addition to contributing to a massive dead-zone in the Gulf of Mexico where nothing can live except Jellyfish. On top of that, what's to give props for? Taking 10 years from their first declaration to ultimately come through? Did all those pigs enjoy the "holiday" Smithfield took while they made sure their profits weren't too badly affected by their choice to announce this in 2007?
Smithfield is a joke. Maybe you intended your comment to be as well?
MJHolt - My quote, that you so nicely quoted, was intended for what I quoted, not towards Smithfield.
The reason I give props to them(Smithfield) is that they recommitted their pledge. Now if they go through with it more props to them, if they don't back to square one. But thanks for the info.
I figure that if I want meat, I better be willing to kill it. And yes I love my meat. I do wish that animals were treated better than this... but it is not gonna stop me from eating meat. Sorry. To each their own.
Brain Picker,
Thank you for the clarification. To be clear, I have no problem with eating some meat either, though not the kind Smithfield and their ilk sell. We, as a country, should be eating less meat anyway. I just think it is ridiculous to give props to a company that is just saying something that they would rather not say, and have already reneged once for two years on their "pledge" in the first place. Their "commitment" has already shown itself to be predicated on economics and not animal welfare. But that is just me. I'll believe it when I see it.
Point taken. Your last sentence sums it all up.
No IT'S NOT bad enough that we eat animals gaithsburger. It's bad enough we care more about pregnant hogs than children with their ribs showing and flies on their faces. Seen any articles about them on here today? Me either. And that's bad enough. But at least you and PETA are happy. Shame on me? Hell... shame on you.
CNORTON,
I don't think anyone is saying that pregnant hogs are more worthy than starving children. Some of us have the capacity to care about more than one issue. Also, Smithfield torturing their pigs a little less in a few years has absolutely nothing to do with starving people. Where in the United States are there "children with their ribs showing and flies on their faces"? Kids in this country are more likely to have their McRibs showing and BBQ sauce on their faces. Nice try though.
It is disgusting the lack of compassion and humanity in this world.
"Why should man expect his prayer for mercy to be heard by What is above him when
he shows no mercy to what is under him" ~Pierre Troubetzkoy
I am sorry I thought the article was about Congress. Nevermind.
You aren't entitled to a pork chop. You are entitled to good nutrition, yes, but that does not mean that any animal has to be treated as inhumanely as this.
Why is it okay for compassion and ethics to be sidelined at the dinner table? I'm not a member of PETA and I do eat meat, but who the hell wants to eat something laced with cruelty? Our food supply system is a total mess brought on by decades of good marketing and consumers being willing to turn a blind eye to the reality of where food comes from. Sad that companies think it's okay to mistreat animals for profit. Buy meat from your local farmer or meat that is certified humanely raised and help put an end to this stupidity.
Nice post Scott. Totally agree with you. I try to buy from small local farmers (Organic Valley) and small businesses where they have higher standards and allow more transparency.
I also have a garden every summer. We can all change our buying practices and most likely improve our health and better the lives of other sentient beings. I am of the opinion what goes around comes around, that includes every one of our life choices.
We should all ask for better care of what we eat and be vocal about being willing to pay for it. The message for too many years has been I want to pay less and the producer was willing.
Well said, Scott. The amount of waste in this country is obscene - stores throw out meat on a daily basis in every town/city in the country. I'm a firm believer that we would not need to factory farm these animals in this number if we were a little more conscientious about how much we want vs. how much we need. I don't think that ingesting meat that comes from an animal that lived it's entire neurotic life in pain and terror is a good thing.
Thank you for sharing this story. At the HSUS we're pleased with Smithfield's decision to recommit to phasing out the cruel use of gestation crates.
All companies that deal with animals should follow this lead. There is absolutely no reason for any animal to be treated with such disrespect.
This is why we buy all of our meet from a local butcher who works with local farmers. Humanely raised animals and a nearly painless death makes for some tasty porkchops ;) But seriously, glad big producers are catching on.
While I am a vegetarian, I don't condone eating meat (or ethical hunting) but I am appalled by the conditions we subject factory farmed livestock to in this country. This is a wonderful START...I hope that the trend continues. The animals raised for food deserve to be treated humanely.
^^ In my post above, and I'm totally late in posting this but I mean to say I don't CONDEMN eating meat...I said condone in error...typing faster than the brain that day, I guess.
I quit eating beef, next is pork!Some of the Sh it described in this article is enough to make you throw up.If they treat pigs or any other animal this way they'll abuse people!IT'S A GIVEN.
I'd like to tell you what I'd like to do with these Excuses for humaning who run these places but I'll be thrown off.
Correction excuses for human beings
Smithfield = Yummmmm
It is said that Newt Gingrich is also pushing for a new law that would require pregnant hogs in his home state of Georgia to get private birthing rooms. Talk about PORK-BARREL legislation, OINK, OINK!
Just visited some of the links. Changed my mind. This company has a ways to go.
Sure it's a good thing to treat animals better.I'm all for it.The industry method of farming is a direct result of us moving away from an agrarian society.The notion of moral superiority stemming from vegetarianism is ludicrous.Same stance as atheists. Most people through most of time have been meat eaters.Let's skip the religious history and go to evolution. All the science agrees that we evolved our big brains from being able to access more protein in our diets-killing animals. Those big brains enable you to sit and sip a latte and type on a magic box letting us know your panties are in a wad. as some say,my food poops on your food. Js husband