Loblaws, Metro, Sobey’s, Walmart, Costco, Safeway, Federated
Co-operatives and Co-op Atlantic have all succumbed to pressure from animal-welfare
activists to announce that they intend to buy pork only from farms that no
longer use gestation crates after 2022.
The announcement came in a joint news release from the
Canadian Federation of Humane Societies and the Retail Council of Canada, which
represents supermarket chains.
The tactic of pressuring retailers began with the Humane
Society of the United States and recently migrated to Canada where Tim Horton’s,
McDonald’s and Burger King have made similar announcements.
More significant are the announcements by Canada’s two
largest hog packers, Olymel and Maple Leaf Foods Inc., that they have plans to
eventually buy hogs only from farmers that do not house sows in gestation
crates.
The Canadian Pork Council has questioned the wisdom of the
bans, noting that there are animal welfare issues involved with all types of
sow housing systems and saying hog farmers ought to be able to choose the
housing system that works best for them and their herd.
