PETA's first letter to Safeway

October 25, 2000

Mr Steven Burd, CEO
Safeway Inc.
PO Box 99
Pleasanton, CA 94566-0009

3 pages via fax: 925-467-3231

Dear Mr. Burd:

On behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 700,000 members and supporters, I am writing to request a copy of your standards for the welfare of animals raised by your beef, pork, chicken, egg, and dairy product suppliers, and to urge you to exceed McDonald's new animal welfare standards.

As you may know, McDonald's has recently developed regulations and an auditing procedure for both slaughterhouses and farms that raise animals for its restaurants. To date, McDonald's has: 1) instituted both stunning efficacy requirements and an auditing and sanctioning procedure for its slaughterhouses; 2) instituted a procedure to alleviate the suffering of chickens during the "catching" process (in preparation for their trip to the slaughterhouse); 3) required that its egg suppliers phase out the starving and dehydrating of hens (forced molting); and 4) required that egg suppliers give hens a minimum of 72 square inches of space per bird. McDonald's has also begun to explore the feasibility of buying only from suppliers who raise sows in less cruel conditions since currently, pregnant pigs are confined to concrete stalls so cramped that they cannot turn around.

You may be aware of the formal complaint by the Washington State Attorney General's Office detailing graphic allegations of inhumane conditions at an IBP slaughterhouse. Filed with the complaint were 17 affidavits from IBP slaughterhouse workers describing routine instances of inhumane slaughter in clear violation of federal and state humane-slaughter regulations. Workers allege excessive and cruel use of electric prods to speed cows through a fast-paced slaughter process that often does not allow for proper stunning of the animals. According to the affidavits, cows are still fully conscious while having their throats slit and being dismembered. In fact, a videotape taken at IBP shows this to be the case. On June 5, Washington Governor Gary Locke reaffirmed the seriousness of the charges by demanding an investigation into the matter by federal, state, and local authorities. We are interested in what steps you have taken to ensure that animals killed for your stores aren't skinned and dismembered while fully conscious.

McDonald's CEO Jack Greenberg declared at the company's annual shareholder meeting in May that McDonald's takes animal welfare issues seriously and intends to be a leader on all fronts. McDonald's understands that it is in its best interests to place a premium on animal welfare, because customers care about animals. We are pleased by the basic, yet important, steps that McDonald's has taken and have declared a one-year moratorium on our campaign against McDonald's (see www.McCruelty.com), which has in the last year included more than 400 demonstrations and the production of advertisements, leaflets, stickers, posters, billboards, and T-shirts that have been well covered by the media.

The following represent the most extreme areas of animal suffering experienced by animals raised for food. We would be happy to meet with you to go over each of the following points in detail, but I will summarize each briefly. We urge you to make a commitment similar to the one that McDonald's has made by instituting the following changes:

1) Ensure 100 percent stunning efficacy for cows and pigs. As the Washington IBP case makes clear, animals are routinely skinned and dismembered while still conscious, in violation of the one federal law that attempts to protect animals raised for food. The federal Humane Slaughter Act requires that cows and pigs be stunned before slaughter. You should require that your suppliers hire a second stunner on the "kill floor" and slow down slaughter lines in order to ensure that animals aren't skinned and dismembered while they are still conscious.

2) Require that slaughterhouses effectively stun chickens before slaughter. Currently, chickens in the U.S. are not stunned before their throats are slit, so they suffer miserably as they either bleed to death or are boiled alive in the feather-removal scalding tanks.

3) Conduct unannounced audits at all slaughterhouses. Hire an expert to audit slaughterhouses and cut off those that are skinning and dismembering conscious animals, as McDonald's has done.

4) Require that suppliers immediately and humanely dispatch any animals who arrive at the slaughterhouse unable to walk, with broken limbs, or in severe pain (frozen, suffering from heat stroke, etc.). Animals routinely arrive at slaughterhouses frozen to the sides of trucks or unable to walk because of injuries or heat exhaustion. They should not be dragged from the backs of trucks or tortured into walking. They should be humanely euthanized.

5) Stop buying eggs from suppliers that give hens less than 72 square inches of space per bird and phase out purchases from suppliers that raise hens in battery cages. Your suppliers cram hens into cages with about as much space per bird as one-half a sheet of standard paper, with tens of thousands of birds in filthy ammonia-laden sheds. This abuse, which is illegal in much of Europe and has been deemed cruel by the entire European Union, must be phased out.

6) Stop buying eggs from suppliers that starve and dehydrate hens in order to increase egg production (a process known as "forced-molting"). Outlawed in Europe, this process, used to force hens into another egg-laying cycle, kills about one-third of the hens subjected to it.

7) Buy only chickens raised truly free-roaming. Intensively reared chickens are crammed into crowded warehouses with tens of thousands of other birds, where they have less space per bird than a standard sheet of paper. Cutting a hole in the side of currently used warehouses, as many so-called "free range" companies do, is not acceptable. Chickens require a nesting area, sunning area, shelter, and plenty of food and fresh water that is spread out enough to prevent the birds from fighting over it.

8) Buy chicken flesh and eggs only from suppliers that don't debeak chickens. Debeaking is the industry's cruel response to the destruction of nature's pecking order, which makes chickens insane and causes them to fight because of severe overcrowding. The solution is to improve conditions so that animals do not go insane and attack one another, not to hack off their body parts.

9) Institute humane guidelines for methods of catching chickens. Chicken catchers routinely break bones as they gather chickens in sheds, remove hens from cages, and load them into crates for transport to slaughter. Penalize workers who break bones and reward workers who treat chickens more gently.

10) Require that your suppliers stop breeding animals for weight. Currently, chickens are at full slaughter weight in less than two months. These birds suffer chronic leg pain and bone cracks, as their upper bodies are forced to grow so quickly that their legs cannot support their weight.

11) Phase out purchases from farms that confine sows to stalls. Sows must be given the ability to carry out their most basic instincts, such as rooting and nesting. Stalls that confine sows in isolation, have concrete floors, or lack adequate bedding are unacceptable.

Please know that since we've suspended our McDonald's campaign, we are in the process of choosing our next target. Please assure us that you plan to meet or exceed McDonald's commitment to animal welfare. We stand ready to meet with you, to assist you, and to work with you to improve the lot of the countless animals who depend on you for the relief of their suffering.

Sincerely,

Sean M. Gifford
Vegetarian Campaign Coordinator