With food prices escalating, animal rights groups are fighting an uphill battle to persuade the public to buy the scarce meat products they endorse.
Free-range chickens, pasture-raised pigs and chickens all command significant pride premiums.
A July Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that two-thirds of adults describe groceries as “unaffordable”—up more than 20 points since February and that’s for conventionally-raised meat and eggs.
Animal rights activists have had some success with California’s Proposition 12, which bans the sale of non-cage-free eggs and pork produced with the use of individual maternity pens, but now outdoor access seems to be next.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals recently issued a supermarket guide for consumers on what kind of animal protein to buy.
It only endorsed pasture-based systems, while also admitting that very little animal protein produced today actually meets these requirements. In fact, 99% per cent of poultry doesn’t satisfy it’s standards.
Allowing animal rights activists—many of whom don’t even eat meat—to dictate farming practices is not sustainable for family budgets, wrote Jack Hubbard in an on-line post.
Not everyone can afford expensive Whole Foods grocery carts. Veterinarians and farmers should be calling the shots, he wrote.
