Entire Retail Food Industry Takes Steps to Reduce Animal Suffering

July 2002

In June 2002, after almost two years of working with PETA, the Food Marketing Institute and the National Council of Chain Restaurants released their first-ever retail farmed-animal welfare guidelines. The guidelines cover a wide range of issues, from anesthetized mutilation of dairy cows to farm-to-slaughterhouse transportation. While basic, these guidelines are historic in that the entire grocery and chain-restaurant industries have agreed that there are standard practices in the meat industry that are clearly abusive toward animals.