The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) released its 2024 Supermarket Scorecard. The scorecard evaluates U.S. supermarkets according to their commitments to farm animal welfare and supply chain issues and efforts to eliminate inhumane farming practices, particularly in their private-label products. While some stores have made progress, the report reveals that many grocers offer their consumers limited cruelty-free options even as public demand for ethical food sourcing grows.
The scorecard identified several supermarkets—including Albertsons, Key Food, Kroger, and Safeway—as advancing in their animal welfare commitments since last year. Additionally, many stores are offering private-label products, such as cage-free eggs. However, retailers like Piggly Wiggly, Save A Lot, Trader Joe’s, and Winn-Dixie are lagging behind their peers in addressing important animal welfare issues.
“Stores that hope to appeal to the growing number of consumers who are concerned about animal welfare can no longer ignore the plight of farmed animals—and for those supermarkets, there’s no better place to start than their own private labels,” said Nancy Roulston, ASPCA Farm Animal Welfare Senior Director of Corporate Policy & Animal Scientist. “By choosing which products fill their shelves, supermarkets determine the welfare of billions of animals and the survival of higher welfare farms across the country, so it has never been more urgent that they set strong animal welfare policies and reliably offer shoppers more humanely raised products.”
Approximately 10 billion animals are raised for consumption and suffer from inhumane practices at U.S. industrial facilities known as factory farms. These practices also increase public health risks, contribute to economic decline in rural areas, and harm the environment. A recent survey showed that 91% of the public wants companies to adopt sustainability programs and treat farm animals better. Most cited that they would shop at another supermarket if theirs did not provide more cruelty-free options than food from factory farms.
Dive deeper into the ASPCA’s Supermarket Scorecard findings here.
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