The Humane Society of the U.S., ASPCA, and Others Are Factory Farm Apologists
Update 10/24/2025: Victory! After more than a decade of sitting on the board of directors of a group that slaps deceptive “animal welfare certified” labels on meat sold at Whole Foods, national animal welfare groups the ASPCA, Humane World for Animals (formerly Humane Society of the United States), and Compassion in World Farming have quietly fled the board of the Global Animal Partnership. PETA has been pressuring the groups to withdraw their support because these labels deceive kind consumers into feeling good about buying meat and other animal-derived products from factory farms, including those where PETA has documented and received reports of animals being kicked, slammed, suffering dislocated wings, and even being sexually abused. Take action for animals suffering at deceptively labeled “Animal Welfare Certified” farms and slaughterhouses here.
The Humane Society of the United States, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASCPA), and Compassion in World Farming are failing to prevent cruelty to animals—by sitting on the board of directors for the humane-washing scheme Global Animal Partnership (GAP), they have become apologists for factory farms.
The Humane Society of the U.S., ASPCA, and Others Are Betraying Animals Through GAP Support
GAP uses misleading “animal welfare certified” labels to convince consumers that they’re buying the flesh and secretions of animals who were treated better than those on other factory farms, but marketing buzzwords mean nothing for animals raised and killed for food. PETA investigators documented systemic cruelty and suffering at 12 Global Animal Partnership-certified facilities.
A PETA investigation into Sweet Stem Farm—which was certified by GAP at the time—revealed that pigs were crammed into severely crowded sheds and had painful, bloody rectal prolapses.
Another PETA investigation into Plainville Farms—which also was, at the time, GAP certified—documented that workers there kicked, beat, and threw turkeys and left ailing birds to suffer without treatment. PETA’s investigation resulted in former Plainville Farms workers being charged with six felonies and a total of 141 counts of cruelty to animals—the largest number in any factory-farmed animal case in U.S. history. Ten former workers have been convicted so far.
Specific investigations aside, animals on GAP-certified farms can still be routinely mutilated without any painkillers, forcibly manually impregnated, and kept in factory farm sheds that are virtually indistinguishable from operations that aren’t “animal welfare certified.” GAP does not prohibit companies from sending pigs into C02 gas chambers at slaughterhouses, where they convulse and slowly suffocate for up to several minutes.
When GAP was founded, a fundamental principle was that its board would be split between animal organizations and the animal-farming industry, but now it’s made up of seven factory farm industry leaders and only three animal “welfare” groups.
This makes it completely imbalanced: GAP has become little more than a humane-washing and marketing arm for the meat industry. For them to claim that they still have a voice at that table is highly suspect.
GAP is controlled by the meat, dairy, and egg industries—and that’s why PETA and other animal protection groups, like Farm Forward, dropped their support of GAP—and why we are urging the Humane Society of the U.S., ASPCA, and Compassion in World Farming to do the same.
“The demands for accommodations became bolder and bolder until calls were made to eliminate even the fundamental principle of having a balanced board comprising half animal groups and half industry. I left the board when this shift away from the core principles upon which GAP was founded became inevitable.” Aaron Gross, Farm Forward
By Supporting GAP, These Organizations Are Promoting Animal Suffering and Death
In late 2024, GAP announced that it is phasing in the requirement that all producers follow the abysmally low standards of the “Better Chicken Commitment,” a humane-washing sham that allows chickens to continue to suffer mightily in vile, filthy, factory-farm conditions so the meat industry can profit.
Over 8 billion chickens are killed for their flesh in the U.S. each year. Almost all of these chickens, called “broilers” by the speciesist chicken industry, spend their entire lives confined in dirty sheds with tens of thousands of other birds, even when their flesh is labeled “Animal Welfare Certified” in grocery stores like Whole Foods. The intense crowding and confinement by the meat, egg, and dairy industries often lead to outbreaks of disease, such as bird flu. When the birds are only 6 or 7 weeks old, workers cram them into overcrowded crates and truck them to slaughter.
Don’t be misled by marketing claims that animals are raised in a “stress-free” environment and transported in “comfort.” Avoid all animal-derived foods, even supposed “humane,” “organic,” and “free-range” meat, eggs, and milk. As long as profit is involved, animal welfare always takes a back seat.
Urge Whole Foods to stop duping consumers with false “humane meat” claims by emailing Bart Beilman below:
Bart Beilman
Senior Vice President of Supply Chain and Retail Operations
Whole Foods
More Articles Like This:
