Target Pledges to Eliminate Gestation Crates

Retail giant Target, the nation’s fourth-largest food retailer, recently announced that it will eliminate gestation crates—confining metal crates used to house pregnant sows in factory farms—from its supply chain. The nationwide chain has set a deadline of 2022 for suppliers to phase out the metal cages. Target joins Brinker International (the owner of Chili’s restaurant chain), Dunkin’ Donuts, and ConAgra Foods in making recent cage-free commitments. Consumer awareness of gestation crates continues to grow with the launch of online videos and features such as animalvisuals.org’s interactive experience, which has viewers living as confined pigs.