Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest grocer in the United states, recently made a pledge to sell only carefree eggs by 2025. The new requirement states that egg suppliers need to adopt an industry standard for treatment of hens by 2025 and have their compliance monitored by a third party. In addition, suppliers need to adhere to the ‘five principles’ of animal welfare, a set of guidelines that includes ensuring animals are not starved, have sufficient space to move, and do not suffer mental distress. The guidelines will apply to over 5,000 stores in the U.S. including Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club warehouse chain. According to the Humane Society, a mere 6% of chickens today are kept in cagefree facilities. That being said, 94% of chickens are being raised in hen cages that typically have a base measurement no larger than a standard piece of copy paper. These cramp cages are said to have very bad quality standards and cause the animals with mental distress.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/06/wal-mart-aims-to-switch-to-cage-free-egg-supply-chain-by-2025.html
I am glad to hear that these requirements are being established. Although they are animals, no living creature deserves to live with such a low quality of life. It is very heartwarming that more than 5,000 stores will apply these requirements increasing the number of chickens raised in cagefree facilities. I wonder if other policies will be enforced in the upcoming years to help ensure other animals in the produce market an increased standard of life?
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with AJ, no animal should ever go through such a low quality of life. Looking at this in an economic standpoint, it will be interesting to see if prices for eggs will increase for Wal-Mart or any store that adopts this policy. The reason I think this could be a possibility is because with increasing these animals' quality of life, it will be more expensive to the producers, which might make them raise there prices to the stores that adopt the policies. All in all, I am glad that a leading company, such as Wal-Mart, is taking strides to make producers develop their products more ethically, and I hope other companies will see this example and adopt similar policies.
ReplyDeleteThat's great that Wal-Mart is becoming more socially aware. In this day and age I think it's necessary that large companies start being more proactive. I agree with AJ and Dominick, no animal should have a low quality of life. I hope that this is a start to many other changes Wal-Mart will be making.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great move in the right direction for Walmart. I just hope this is not a move on Walmart's part to simply quiet those who are pushing for social consciousness. Of the brands Walmart carries, many of them have cited human rights violations, and there has been next to no effort to move away from that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the posts above that it is great that they want to get the animals out of the cramp cages. the only thing that i could see being a problem is if this whole thing raises the price of eggs. there are people out there that don't care about the animals health and safety they just want things for cheap.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this is a large step in the right direction for Walmart, who has been struggling as of late. This allows them to project a new image to the general consumer as being progressive and more socially and environmentally aware. Several of the brands that fall under Walmart's jurisdiction have been found guilty of human rights and animal rights violations, so this shows that there is now an effort being made to right those wrongs.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good move for Walmart. I think that it was the right time to bring this to the public because Walmart has not been doing so hot recently, and this will help them. I think that this will also encourage other stores to consider changing how they get their food to assist animal health, which in return will hopefully increase customers.
ReplyDeleteSmart move for Walmart. With the increased concern about the care of animals grown for consumption, it is impressive that Walmart is taking steps in the right way. I expect that this will force other suppliers to make similar changes as consumers will be drawn to the idea of eating better raised food.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure this is a good move for Walmart. Walmart is a company that differentiates itself because of the low prices which they can provide its customers. According to Data found from business insider, Walmart's target customer is on average a white, 50-year-old female with an annual household income of $53,125. While their rival Target's average customer is on average five years younger, and makes approximately $12,000 more a year. While I am not an expert on what customers are looking for I don't think this customer base would be too concerned with cage free eggs. This will obviously increase the price of eggs for Walmart which I would think would hurt the company.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Blatchford on this one. I also think the Emily brings up a good point which my hunch is that Walmart absolutely did this for social publicity. I think what Blatchford brought up about the target consumer makes a lot of sense. Or maybe Walmart is trying to target another consumer pool (Probably not though). Plus has anybody wondered about the farmers you know the guys who are really having to pay for this. Some farms will possibly have to pay for an entire restructuring of their infrastructure (ones who have all gages). How in the world can they afford this? How can they keep up with the demand if the animals are unable to caged? I would guess your supply of chickens will go down if you have to give them adequate space?
ReplyDeleteIn addition chicken is one of the cheaper meats one can buy. I understand that there are definitely some moral dilemmas of how we raise our animals to eat but there can only be so much we can do with our food. Im not saying it is right but I do not think people as a whole wouldn't be willing to pay much more than what they do now. Especially if one is buying eggs from Walmart.
ReplyDeleteI think that taking a stand on animal cruelty and assuring consumers of the company's values could be very positive. Consumers want to buy from companies they trust and I think being more socially responsible is a step in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteWalmart understands the are the number 1 supermarket chain in the nation, and they understand americans are moving in the direction of being eco-friendly and dont care animal cruelty. So they see a cost advantage in paying for cage free eggs
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