Despite the fact that we just finished the environmental ethics unit, I thought some of you might be interested to learn that those tight, cramped gestation crates used for pigs might soon go away in the United States thanks to McDonalds, of all corporations.
From the New York Times:
The effect on the industry will be huge, because in the world of big-time meat supply, there are two kinds of producers: those who sell to McDonald’s and those wish they could. When, in 1999, McDonald’s requested that its suppliers give caged hens 72 square inches of space instead of 48 (72 is still smaller than a piece of 8×10 paper), not a single factory-farmed hen in the country was being raised with 72 inches of space. Yet the entire supply chain was converted in just 18 months, and 72 square inches is now effectively the industry standard.
There is no real downside here: the McDonald’s move may not be bold, but it’s the right one; its timetable may not be swift but it’s probably the best that anyone could expect. Yes, sows will still be raised in what can only be called industrial conditions and no, the numbers of animals killed for meat will not decrease. But we can expect that this is not simply a P.R. ploy, and that the results will be positive.
