Campbell Soup Co., Camden, N.J., announced a commitment to move its U.S. chicken meat supply to a higher standard of animal welfare by 2024.
The commitment entails working with suppliers to improve the treatment of broiler chickens by:
- Transition to strains of birds approved by Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) or the Global Animal Partnership (GAP) that are scientifically recognized as having higher welfare outcomes;
- Provide more space for chickens by reducing stocking density to a maximum of 6 pounds per square foot;
- Offer improved environments, including litter, lighting and enrichment that meet GAP’s new standards;
- Process chickens in a manner that avoids pre-stun handling and instead uses multi-step controlled atmospheric stunning; and
- Use third-party auditing to ensure compliance.
