A Step Up for Animal Welfare at Whole Foods

Whole Foods has recently introduced a 5-step Animal Welfare Rating system for all chicken, beef and pork sold in their stores.  This system, designated by a color-coded sticker, is designed to give customers better transparency as to how their meat was produced and allow consumers to make more informed purchasing decisions.  Developed by the nonprofit Global Animal Partnership, this rating system allows third-party certifiers to audit farms and rate their practices using the 5-step system.  The tiers range from Step 1 – no crates, cages or crowding to Step 5 – the animal spends its entire life on one farm.  Already more than 1,200 farms and ranches that supply Whole Foods have received the Step certification and more are on the way.

I think this is a huge step in the right direction for our food system, environment and health, and I’m glad a large grocery store chain is taking some initiative to educate consumers on what they’re actually paying for.  What I like about this labeling scheme/certified standard is that it’s uniform across all stores.  I think it’s important for the consumer to identify one set of standards in the midst of so many conflicting messages.  It also makes the consumer think about what they’re eating and what practices they’re supporting.  Even the “informed” shopper of a Whole Foods may assume whatever product they put in their cart has a wholesome value over its conventional counterpart at the Stop & Shop, but what I think this rating system will expose are different quality standards you didn’t think existed within Whole Foods itself.  Consumers will hopefully begin to read the labels and feel a sense of power in understanding where and in support of what their money is going. 

Our country desperately needs to start to thinking about meat production in a new way.  In my opinion people shouldn’t be eating meat at all or at least very little of it, but with the understanding that everything happens incrementally, I think Whole Foods is on the right track.  I would love to see similar rating systems in mainstream grocery stores where consumers also need a better education about what they’re consuming.  Maybe this will take more time, but for now any awareness is a good thing and I applaud Whole Foods for their effort!