Safeway to Phase Out Suppliers That Use Gestation Crates

On Monday, Safeway, Inc., the second-largest grocery chain in the country, announced that it is currently structuring a plan to discontinue supplying from pork producers that use gestation crates. The intensely confining cages have recently received mainstream media attention due to being disavowed by major food conglomerates such as Hormel, Smithfield, Burger King, and Wendy’s. Although Safeway has been gradually sourcing more from gestation crate-free facilities, it announced its official goal to have a crate-free supply chain and is currently “formulating plans to determine how it can reach that goal,” according to Brian Dowling, the company’s vice president of public affairs.