Burger King Announces New Animal-Welfare Policy

Yesterday, Burger King announced its decision to eliminate the use of gestation crates and hen battery cages in its US supply chain by 2017. Responding to mounting consumer pressure, the fast-food chain has pledged to improve its animal-welfare policies, building on welfare reforms implemented in 2007, when the company began sourcing from cage-free farms. “So many tens of thousands of animals will now be in better living conditions,” says Humane Society of the United States President Wayne Pacelle. “Numerically this is significant because Burger King is such a big purchaser of these products.” Earlier this year, Wendy’s and McDonald’s both vowed to phase out the use of gestation crates at their pork-producing facilities.