PETA Calls On Safeway to Require Less Cruel Method of Poultry Slaughter

Group Wants Grocery Chain to Take Its Past Animal Welfare Improvements to the Next Level

For Immediate Release:
May 18, 2010

Contact:
Stephanie Corrigan  757-622-7382

Pleasanton, Calif. -- A representative of PETA--which is a Safeway shareholder--will present a resolution to executives at the company's annual meeting in Pleasanton tomorrow. PETA wants Safeway to purchase all its turkeys from suppliers that use a less cruel method of poultry slaughter called "controlled-atmosphere killing" (CAK) by the end of 2010 and to require its chicken suppliers to switch to CAK within five years. Safeway already buys some turkey from suppliers that use CAK, but PETA wants the company to commit to taking action to fully eliminate the worst abuses that chickens and turkeys endure.

When:     Wednesday, May 19
Where:    5918 Stoneridge Mall Rd., Pleasanton 1:30 p.m.

"Safeway has started making animal welfare reforms, but it is time for the company to put a timeline on its commitments to improve conditions for the chickens and turkeys who end up on its shelves," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Consumers care about animal welfare, so the best thing that any business can do is to take action to reduce animal abuse."

Currently, birds who are killed for Safeway are dumped onto conveyor belts and slammed upside down by their legs into metal shackles--a procedure that often results in broken wings and broken legs. Birds are still conscious when their throats are cut, and many are then scalded to death in defeathering tanks. All these abuses can be eliminated by using CAK, a method in which the oxygen that chickens and turkeys breathe is slowly replaced with a nonpoisonous gas that puts the birds "to sleep" while they are still in their transport crates.

PETA's shareholder resolution is also available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org/cak.