Metz Culinary Management is working with its pork suppliers to eliminate gestation crates by 2017.
“Confining pigs in gestation crates is out of step with our belief that all animals, including animals raised for food, deserve a decent life,” says Vice President of Purchasing Craig Phillips. “We urge the pork industry to follow our lead and create a timeline to eliminate gestation crates everywhere.”
The goal is that by 2017, or sooner if products become readily available, Metz will purchase pork products only from suppliers that do not use gestation crates for the more than 100 dining programs in hospitals, assisted living and long-term care facilities, independent schools, colleges, universities, and corporate offices where Metz operates.
Nine U.S. states have already passed laws to ban the use of gestation crates from pork supply chain practices. Currently, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey have bills pending that would also put an end to pig confinement. Pork providers like Smithfield and Hormel have also pledged to end the use of gestation crates at their company by 2017.
According to The Humane Society, most breeding pigs in the U.S. are confined for virtually their entire lives in gestation crates approximately two feet wide that nearly immobilize them.