Hormel Tolerates Animal Cruelty

Animal advocates who email Hormel regarding PETA's undercover video are receiving a reply that states, "the farm in the video is not a Hormel Foods' farm and the people are not Hormel Foods' employees." However, the farm in the video is a Hormel supplier. The PETA video shows workers at the factory farm beating the pigs and castrating piglets without anesthesia, and also shows how breeding sows are kept in extreme confinement in row after row of gestation crates. Hormel also says "we are working with our supplier to ensure this activity is no longer taking place" and claims that they have a "zero tolerance policy for the inhumane treatment of animals."

Even assuming that humane meat is possible (it's not) and that Hormel's definition of "inhumane treatment" refers only to the beatings, Hormel obviously doesn't understand what "zero tolerance" means. If they really had a zero tolerance policy, they would cut ties with this supplier immediately. Maybe finding another supplier would be too time-consuming or costly for Hormel. And some might argue that demanding change from this supplier would do more for the animals than switching suppliers. Or maybe, Hormel recognizes that there is no such thing as humane meat and it wouldn't matter which supplier they chose. Whatever their reason, the fact remains that they are continuing to purchase slaughtered pigs from this supplier.

This is not to say that other companies that mass-produce canned meat products have better animal welfare policies than Hormel. Or that other pig farms are better than the one in the video. But Hormel's claims about a "zero tolerance policy" sound like a load of Spam to me.

Links:

• PETA's Undercover Video of Factory Farm Cruelty
  
• Factory Farm Cruelty is Systemic