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Since 2002, 11 states have restricted or banned gestation crates but Utah is not among them. Pork producers keep sows in these cramped crates throughout their lives, artificially impregnate them and take away their young to keep up with the demand for meat.
As of December 2021, Utah farms accounted for just over 1% of the total U.S. hog inventory, according to the National Pork Producers Council.
Devon Dear, institutional outreach manager for the group Animal Equality, said improvements have been made, but more needs to be done.
“We’ve seen some really big players in this industry move away from crates; McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Jack in the Box, Chipotle, Shake Shack, Panera Bread,” Dear outlined. “These companies have significantly reduced or eliminated crates from their supply chain, so we know it can be done successfully.”
Dear added around 60% of pigs in the U.S. are crated for their entire pregnancies and will spend, on average, 74% of their lives in crates. The report lists corporations like Denny’s, Chick-fil-A, Dunkin’ and KFC among others as not being aggressive enough in reducing their crate usage. Dear hopes the Farm Bill currently being debated in Congress can help advance the issue.
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World Animals Voice 