The largest single buyer of pork in the United States is getting ready to announce it will only buy ham, sausage and bacon from farms that allow sows to roam freely in pastures and barns.
In the next few months, McDonald’s USA will roll out new rules for its suppliers that require them to change the way they raise hogs, said John McGlone, a researcher from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.
The fast-food giant has not yet publicly stated its intentions.
But in November, the corporation’s director of social responsibility consulted McGlone about alternative housing for sows.
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Consumers believe sows should be able to move around and socialize, McGlone told Manitoba hog farmers at a Jan. 31 seminar.
While he doesn’t expect government regulations to force hog farmers to get rid of the crates they use to house sows, McGlone thinks market pressures from buyers like McDonald’s will accomplish the same thing.
That has major implications for American producers, 90 percent of whom keep sows in stalls or crates.
McGlone said he told McDonald’s it would have a hard time finding enough pork raised to its specifications. But the corporation’s intent to move in that direction is clear, he said.
The corporation has also told U.S. pork producers it expects within five years to buy only meat raised without hormones and antibiotics, McGlone said.
McDonald’s supports alternative sow housing research at Purdue University, according to the animal welfare section of the company’s website.
Its first major animal welfare initiative was to require its 27 egg suppliers to give their hens more room, stop trimming their beaks, and stop restricting food to increase production.
McGlone said he has heard the corporation pays producers 15 cents per dozen more for their eggs because of the new rules.
The corporation also has a high-profile advisory board on animal welfare issues that includes cattle researcher Temple Grandin and other academics and activists.
McDonald’s website refers readers to the Animal Welfare Council, which purports pigs must be able to have room to root and play, and should be raised on family farms.
