PETA to Grill Kraft Executives Over Company's Cruelty to Pigs

At Annual Meeting, Group Will Ask Food Giant Why It Lags Retailers in Efforts to Phase Out Cruel--and in Some States, Illegal--Gestation Crates

For Immediate Release:
May 17, 2010

Contact:
Stephanie Corrigan  757-622-7382

Skokie, Ill. -- Just one month after buying stock in Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft Foods, PETA is taking on the food giant over its suppliers' cruel treatment of pregnant pigs. At the company's annual meeting on Tuesday, a PETA representative will present a statement and ask Kraft when it is going to follow the lead of socially responsible companies by requiring its pork suppliers to stop cruelly confining pregnant sows to gestation crates:

When:   Tuesday, May 18 at 9 a.m.
Where:  North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie

"Pregnant pigs suffer every minute of every day that they're confined to these cruel enclosures," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Kraft stockholders should know that the company is an industry laggard when it comes to taking meaningful steps toward stopping the worst abuses of farmed animals."
 
Many grocery chains that sell Kraft products--including A&P, Harris Teeter, Safeway, and Winn-Dixie--have already taken strides to source crate-free pork. And a number of restaurant chains--including Burger King, Carl's Jr., and Hardee's--have enacted policies to increase the amount of crate-free pork that they use.

Gestation crates are metal enclosures that are so small that pigs who are confined to them can't even take a single step in any direction. The animals often develop open wounds from rubbing against the sides of the crates, and the intensive confinement also produces stress-related behaviors, such as incessant chewing on cage bars. Gestation crates are so cruel that they have been banned in California, Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Oregon, Michigan, and Florida.

PETA's statement is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.