The Humane Society calls out Oscar Mayer over hog gestation crate use

The Humane Society of the United States is driving a grassroots campaign against Oscar Mayer over its failure to live up to a pledge made six years ago to end the use of gestation crates.

The animal activists’ group is urging consumers to send “a polite message” to the CEO of the company’s parent firm, Kraft Heinz, urging Oscar Mayer to “keep its animal welfare promises” to end use of the crates by 2025. HSUS contends that the pork products company dropped the timeline it set in 2017 and is reporting that just 25% of its global supply chain has moved away from the crates.

HSUS said the crates are too small to let pregnant sows turn around or take more than one step forward or backward. Oscar Mayer first announced plans to eliminate the use of gestation crates in 2012 with a pledge to be crate-free by 2022, according to several media reports at the time.

On the HSUS website (as shown below) they have a form to fill out that would go directly to Kraft Heinz

Mother pigs in the pork industry are routinely confined to “gestation crates,” which are cages so tiny the pigs are virtually immobilized for nearly their entire lives. Gestation crates prevent mother pigs from even turning around or taking more than a step forward or backward.

In 2017, Oscar Mayer’s parent company (Kraft Heinz) committed to move away from these cruel crates by 2025. However, in recent years, the company did away with this timeline, and reports that only a quarter of its global supply chain has moved away from these crates,