Wal-Mart's push on animal welfare hailed as game changer
Source: AP-Excite
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart's push to get its suppliers to give farm animals fewer antibiotics and more room to roam is expected to have a big impact on the food industry, experts say.
Though the steps are voluntary, Wal-Mart, which sells more food than any other store, has a history of using its retail muscle to change the way products are made and sold across the retail industry.
Wal-Mart told The Associated Press that it's asking meat producers, eggs suppliers and others to use antibiotics only for disease prevention or treatment, not to fatten their animals, a common industry practice.
The guidelines also aim to get suppliers to stop using pig gestation crates and other housing that doesn't give animals enough space. They're also being asked to avoid painful procedures like de-horning or castration without proper painkillers.
FULL story at link.
FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2013, file photo, customers walk outside of a Wal-Mart store in San Jose, Calif. Wal-Mart, the nation's largest food retailer, is urging its thousands of U.S. suppliers to curb the use of antibiotics in farm animals and improve treatment of them. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150522/us--wal-mart-animal_welfare-467f8575a2.html
We won't shop there or at Sam's. But welcome them doing this.
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