How interested are you in the lifestyle of your meats prior to them arriving at your dinner table? Whole Foods works with non-profit organization, The Global Animal Partnership, to rate the welfare of their animals prior to slaughter. This organization works to improve the lives of farm animals and develops rating standards.
A third party of auditors trained by The Global Animal Partnership assigns the “steps” to each meat source that goes to Whole Foods. At Whole Foods, you can find the meats color coded by step.
A Summary of the 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating Standards:
Step 1: “no crates, no cages”/no crowding
Animals have room to stretch their legs and move around.
Step 2: enriched environment
Natural behaviors are supported such as hens picking at hay bales and pigs having a bowling ball to roll around.
Step 3: enhanced outdoor access
While pigs and foul may live indoors, they ALL have access to the outdoors.
Step 4: pasture centered
When the animals are outdoors animals can naturally roam, wallow (pigs), etc.
Step 5: livestock centered
Animal wellbeing is the focus while efficiency is secondary
Step 5+ where animals live their entire life on one farm.
Although a Step Rating does not qualify a meat as organic, as per the Whole Foods website, they do not sell meat from animals treated with antibiotics or added hormones. Nor do they sell any meat from animals that have been fed animal byproducts. Their more processed meats like bacon or sausage are free of synthetic nitrates/nitrites, irradiation and artificial ingredients.
To be certified organic, cattle, poultry and pigs must meet further guidelines. A few being that they are raised organically on pastures certified to be organic. They must be fed certified organic food for their entire lives. There must be no drug, growth hormone or antibioitc treatment and they must have access to the outdoors all year-round.
Learn more about Whole Foods Market Animal Welfare Standard Ratings here.
Not all species have published standards as of yet.
(photo by Jem Kuhn, via Flickr)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.