照過來，照過來：箱式鐵籠養豬就是夾欄..................

蘇少儀 · 發表於 2012-2-14 14:08:41

本帖最後由蘇少儀於 2012-2-14 00:14 編輯

麥當勞要求豬肉供應商勿再使用箱式鐵籠養豬
中廣新聞網 – 2012年2月14日上午9:43.
麥當勞要求豬肉供應業者不要再使用箱式鐵籠(Crate)養豬，愛護動物團體預測，身為速食業龍頭的麥當勞此舉，將會對養豬產業，產生巨大的正面衝擊。（夏明珠報導）
美國大部分的畜牧業者，都會把妊娠母豬關在箱式鐵籠(Crate)內飼養，它們認為，隔離飼養可以避免懷孕母豬被攻擊而流產的危險，同時加快豬隻的生長速度，縮短生產週期，可是這種飼養法對動物極端不人道，豬被關在兩英尺寬的隔欄內，連轉身都不可能。
美國養豬業每年產值達到210億美元，麥當勞是最大的豬肉進貨商之一，美國生產的豬肉，每年大約有百分之一，都被麥當勞買走，它也因此成為動保團體施壓的主要目標。
麥當勞今天與愛護動物團體（美國人道社會）共同宣布，要求豬肉供應商在五月以前，提出淘汰箱式鐵籠(Crate)飼養法的計畫，麥當勞會在看完計畫之後，再研究下一步該怎麼做。
麥當勞的許多競爭者，包括漢堡王、溫蒂都已經開始和採用鐵籠(Crate)飼養法的業者切割。讓麥當勞更增壓力。
全球最大豬肉生產商Smithfield已經表達，會在2017年以前淘汰鐵籠(Crate)飼養法。
愛護動物團體正在全美推動立法，要求禁止這種不人道的動物飼養法，美國養豬產業工會則說，研究顯示，隔離飼養可以讓每隻豬得到更好的照顧。
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McDonald's vows to stop pork suppliers confining sows in crates

By James B. Kelleher | Reuters – 8 hrs ago....EmailNew: Now the email button gives you a quick and easy way to start a conversation.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp said on Monday it will work with its U.S. pork suppliers to phase out the use of gestation crates, the cramped stalls that millions of mother sows are confined to while they raise piglets.
The fast-food chain said the metal crates were "not a sustainable production system for the future." It said it would work with suppliers to hammer out a timeline for the phase-out and would talk about the planned next steps in May.
"There are alternatives that we think are better for the welfare of sows," Dan Gorsky, senior vice president for supply chain management for McDonald's North American said in a statement.
McDonald's joins a growing list of food producers and retailers, including Smithfield Foods, Hormel, Cargill, Burger King and Wolfgang Puck, that have promised to move away from pork bred from sows confined to the crates, which are typically too narrow to allow the sows to turn around.
But because McDonald's, which uses ham, sausage and bacon in its breakfast menu, is so big, Wayne Pacelle, the president and he chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States, predicted the announcement would have a "catalytic" impact on holdouts.
"They're clearly the biggest pork buyer in the fast-food sector and the largest restaurant chain in the world," Pacelle said. "So this will certainly have seismic effect within the pork industry."
The National Pork Board, a trade group representing the pork industry, released a statement defending the stalls as a "conventional" practice. It said that alternatives, including open pens, free-access stalls and pastures, have "welfare advantages and disadvantages that must be considered by an individual farmer."
Sows are often confined in the crates from just before the birth of the piglets until they are weaned months later. Defenders of the practice said that it minimizes the number of tiny piglets crushed by the huge sows in the first days of life. Opponents said it is cruel to keep the mothers so confined for weeks at a time.
The Humane Society said that 70 percent of the pork industry confines its pregnant pigs to gestation crates, which are banned in the European Union and eight U.S. states -- including California, Ohio and Michigan.
McDonald's vow to help put an end to the sow crates is the latest in a string of victories for advocates of animal welfare and food purity.
Last August, McDonald's stopped putting beef trimmings treated with ammonia hydroxide -- a USDA-approved ingredient that critics called "pink slime" -- into its burgers after a number of food activists, including celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, drew attention to the additive.
Also last summer, the Humane Society and U.S. egg producers agreed to work together to essentially double the size of the cages that the 280 million hens involved in U.S. egg production spend their lives in.
Late last month, an amendment to the Egg Products Inspection Act legislating the increased cage size was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Humane Society and the egg industry issued a release calling the measure "a top legislative priority."
(Editing by Greg McCune)