The Wall Street Journal-20080212-Safeway Embraces Animal Welfare

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Safeway Embraces Animal Welfare

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Safeway Inc., one of the U.S.'s largest grocery chains, is embarking on a new policy that will elevate animal welfare as a priority when buying the meat and eggs that line its shelves.

The changes come as animal-rights groups People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, and the Humane Society are turning up the heat on food producers and food retailers.

Safeway, of Pleasanton, Calif., said it is "actively looking" to increase the amount of poultry it buys from producers that use "controlled-atmosphere stunning," an ostensibly more humane method of killing birds that uses gas rather than the more common method of electricity and a mechanical blade. It also will increase the amount of pork from suppliers that are phasing out gestation crates to confine sows, which are perceived by some to be too cramped. Also, Safeway will increase the quantity of cage-free eggs it sells from about 3% of overall egg volume to 6% over two years.

Safeway may have trouble finding chicken raised under some of the outlined conditions. The National Chicken Council said it knows of no major poultry producers using controlled-atmosphere stunning. Brian Dowling, vice president of external affairs at Safeway, said the changes generally won't mean higher prices for consumers -- in part because the company is making sure the changes will be done in a "careful, thoughtful way." Still, most producers that change production practices have to spend millions of dollars installing equipment and retrofitting factories, and that could affect prices.

PETA and the Humane Society have been targeting Safeway for years. A few years ago, PETA launched an ad campaign branding Safeway as "Shameway, Little Shop of Horrors." About two years ago, both groups purchased Safeway stock so they could attend shareholder meetings and introduce resolutions pressuring the company.

Both groups applauded Safeway's changes. "The company should be commended for improving the lives and deaths of some of the animals who are killed for its stores," said Bruce Friedrich, PETA's vice president.

Safeway said it has been independently working on animal-welfare issues for years in response to consumer demand and shifting public perception about what constitutes healthy and wholesome food. Last year, the company introduced its own private label cage-free eggs.