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The Global Animal Partnership (GAP) is a nonprofit which seeks to promote the welfare of farmed animals by rating the welfare standards of various farmed animal products.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2016) |
The Global Animal Partnership (GAP) is a nonprofit which seeks to promote the welfare of farmed animals by rating the welfare standards of various farmed animal products.
GAP was founded in 2008 with assistance from Whole Foods Market. According to GAP's website, Whole Foods had piloted its own animal welfare rating program, but Whole Foods CEO John Mackey felt that an independent organization would be more effective. In different phases, the Global Animal Partnership launched farm standards for broiler chickens, pigs, beef cattle, and turkeys. The organization intends to launch additional welfare standards for other species as it grows. [1]
To get 5-Step Certified, a farm submits an application to a third-party accreditor. The accreditor audits the farm and decides on the accreditation accordingly, and the Global Animal Partnership provides appropriate labeling and marketing. [3]
GAP's standards cover approximately 290 million farmed animals. According to the Open Philanthropy Project, the GAP achieves this scale largely through contracts with large producers including Tyson Foods, Perdue Farms, and Whole Foods. Whole Foods only carries GAP-certified chicken, cow, pig, and turkey. [4]
A significant fraction of these 290 million animals are kept in Step 2 facilities, which according to Open Philanthropy whose welfare conditions are only a slight improvement over those of typical factory farms. [4]
In addition to Whole Foods, GAP-certified animal products are sold by Tender & True Pet Nutrition, Boulder Natural Meats and Creminelli Fine Meats. [5] [6]
Whole Foods used to donate $200,000 a year to GAP, but now their support is in the form of labeling fees and the provision of two full-time staff. [4]
In 2015, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) donated $25,000 to GAP. [4]
In 2016, Open Philanthropy awarded GAP a grant of $500,000 over two years "to allow GAP to invest in strengthening its standards and audit oversight, and developing its business model and revenue streams." [4]
Also in 2016, GAP announced a partnership with Redlaw Sauce Company in which Redlaw will donate 5% of its profits to GAP. [7]
GAP has been criticized by some animal activists for deceptiveness about the conditions animals live in. A 2015 undercover investigation by the activist group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) of Whole Foods supplier Diestel Turkey Ranch facility, produced video footage of turkeys in poor conditions, including those with matted feathers, swollen body parts, and carcasses decomposing among live birds. Diestel Turkey Ranch's facilities had received Step 3 and Step 5+ ratings from the Global Animal Partnership. Spokespeople for Whole Foods and Diestel Farms claimed the footage was misleading. [8]
In 2015 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a lawsuit against Whole Foods on the grounds that its labeling of animal products with the 5-Step rating program deceived customers. According to PETA's complaint, "The entire audit process for Whole Foods' animal welfare standards is a sham because it occurs infrequently and violations of the standards do not cause loss of certification...Standards that are not actually enforced create a false impression of ensuring a more humanely treated, higher quality animal product — when in fact they ensure no such thing." [9] The case was dismissed in April 2016 on the grounds that PETA had not shown that Whole Foods' alleged misrepresentations defrauded consumers. According to Judge Nathanael Cousins, "Retailers do not have a duty to disclose product information unless it relates to a consumer safety issue", and PETA had not raised any safety concerns. [10]
In January 2016, a number of animal activist groups including DxE, PETA, Last Chance for Animals, and the Christian Vegetarian Association signed an open letter to Whole Foods condemning GAP's rating system. [11]
Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, eggs or feathers. The practice of raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes. The term also includes waterfowls of the family Anatidae but does not include wild birds hunted for food known as game or quarry.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. PETA says that its entities have more than 9 million members globally.
Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starting with the Neolithic Revolution when animals were first domesticated, from around 13,000 BC onwards, predating farming of the first crops. By the time of early civilisations such as ancient Egypt, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs were being raised on farms.
The domestic turkey is a large fowl, one of the two species in the genus Meleagris and the same species as the wild turkey. Although turkey domestication was thought to have occurred in central Mesoamerica at least 2,000 years ago, recent research suggests a possible second domestication event in the area that is now the southwestern United States between 200 BC and 500 AD. However, all of the main domestic turkey varieties today descend from the turkey raised in central Mexico that was subsequently imported into Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century.
Whole Foods Market, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, is an American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. A USDA Certified Organic grocer in the United States, the chain is popularly known for its organic selections. As of March 4, 2019, Whole Foods has more than 500 stores in North America and seven in the United Kingdom.
Pastured poultry is a sustainable agriculture technique that calls for the raising of laying chickens, meat chickens (broilers), guinea fowl, and/or turkeys on pasture, as opposed to indoor confinement. Humane treatment and the perceived health benefits of pastured poultry are causing an increase in demand for such products.
There are different systems of feeding cattle in animal husbandry. For pastured animals, grass is usually the forage that composes the majority of their diet. In turn, this grass-fed approach is known for producing meat with distinct flavor profiles. Cattle reared in feedlots are fed hay supplemented with grain, soy and other ingredients to increase the energy density of the feed. The debate is whether cattle should be raised on fodder primarily composed of grass or a concentrate. The issue is complicated by the political interests and confusion between labels such as "free range", "organic", or "natural". Cattle raised on a primarily foraged diet are termed grass-fed or pasture-raised; for example meat or milk may be called grass-fed beef or pasture-raised dairy. The term "pasture-raised" can lead to confusion with the term "free range", which does not describe exactly what the animals eat.
Free range denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals, for at least part of the day, can roam freely outdoors, rather than being confined in an enclosure for 24 hours each day. On many farms, the outdoors ranging area is fenced, thereby technically making this an enclosure, however, free range systems usually offer the opportunity for the extensive locomotion and sunlight that is otherwise prevented by indoor housing systems. Free range may apply to meat, eggs or dairy farming.
Chick culling or unwanted chick killing is the process of separating and killing unwanted chicks for which the intensive animal farming industry has no use. It occurs in all industrialised egg production, whether free range, organic, or battery cage. However, some certified pasture-raised egg farms are taking steps to eliminate the practice entirely. Worldwide, around 7 billion male chicks are culled each year in the egg industry. Because male chickens do not lay eggs and only those in breeding programmes are required to fertilise eggs, they are considered redundant to the egg-laying industry and are usually killed shortly after being sexed, which occurs just days after they are conceived or after they hatch. Some methods of culling that do not involve anaesthetics include: cervical dislocation, asphyxiation by carbon dioxide, and maceration using a high-speed grinder. Maceration is the primary method in the United States. Maceration is often a preferred method over carbon dioxide asphyxiation in western countries as it is often considered as "more humane" due to the deaths occurring immediately or within a second.
In animal husbandry, feed conversion ratio (FCR) or feed conversion rate is a ratio or rate measuring of the efficiency with which the bodies of livestock convert animal feed into the desired output. For dairy cows, for example, the output is milk, whereas in animals raised for meat the output is the flesh, that is, the body mass gained by the animal, represented either in the final mass of the animal or the mass of the dressed output. FCR is the mass of the input divided by the output. In some sectors, feed efficiency, which is the output divided by the input, is used. These concepts are also closely related to efficiency of conversion of ingested foods (ECI).
Intensive animal farming, industrial livestock production, and macro-farms, also known as factory farming, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production while minimizing costs. To achieve this, agribusinesses keep livestock such as cattle, poultry, and fish at high stocking densities, at large scale, and using modern machinery, biotechnology, and global trade. The main products of this industry are meat, milk and eggs for human consumption.
Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion chickens are killed for consumption annually. Chickens raised for eggs are known as layers, while chickens raised for meat are called broilers.
Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) is an international grassroots network of animal rights activists founded in 2013 in the San Francisco Bay Area. DxE uses disruptive protests and non-violent direct action tactics, such as open rescue of animals from factory farms. Their intent is to build a movement that can eventually shift culture and change social and political institutions. DxE activists work to "put an end to the commodity status of animals."
The Humane League (THL) is an international nonprofit organization that works to end the abuse of animals raised for food through corporate, media and community outreach. It operates in the United States, Mexico, the UK and Japan. THL promotes plant-based diets, conducts research on the effectiveness of different interventions, and works to obtain animal welfare commitments from companies. It was founded in 2005 in Philadelphia by Nick Cooney.
Animal welfare in the United States relates to the treatment of non-human animals in fields such as agriculture, hunting, medical testing and the domestic ownership of animals. It is distinct from animal conservation.
Animal welfare and rights in Canada is about the laws concerning and treatment of nonhuman animals in Canada. Canada has been considered to have weak animal welfare protections by the organization World Animal Protection. The vast majority of Canadians are for further animal protections, according to a poll conducted on behalf of Mercy for Animals.
Animal welfare and rights in Indonesia regards the treatment of and laws concerning non-human animals in Indonesia. Indonesia has limited animal welfare regulations by international standards.
This article is about the treatment of and laws concerning non-human animals in Australia. Australia has moderate animal protections by international standards.
Farm Forward is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to promote conscientious eating, reduce farmed animal suffering, and advance sustainable agriculture. Farm Forward aims to eliminate the most harmful practices in intensive animal agriculture, increase the market share of humane and sustainable animal agriculture, and raise awareness about the cultural significance of animal agriculture.
Proposition 12 was a California ballot proposition in that state's general election on November 6, 2018. The measure was self-titled the Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act. The measure passed, by a vote of about 63% Yes to 37% No.