Jeff Melton, Direct
Action Everywhere DxE
January 2016
Please read A Letter to Whole Foods...
From its humble beginnings in 1980 as a small natural foods grocery store
in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods has grown to become the fourth-largest
U.S.-owned grocery chain, with revenues of over $14 billion. During those 36
years, one thing has never changed: like most of its competitors, Whole
Foods keeps its shelves and freezers amply stocked with the flesh and bodily
secretions of animals who have been brutally exploited.
During that same time frame, public concern for the plight of animals has
grown exponentially. When I attended college in the early 1980s, veganism
was virtually unheard of. “Where can you find stuff to eat?” I asked Peter,
the first vegan I ever met, when we and our fellow chess team members were
traveling to a tournament. He pointed out the grocery store across from our
hotel, but aside from that there were few other options. Today, over 70% of
restaurants in airports offer vegan options, and there are even vegan
restaurant chains. According to the National Restaurant Association, demand
for vegan entrees has increased 58% just within the past year. And although
increased knowledge of the adverse health effects of animal product
consumption is undoubtedly a factor, so, too, is growing public concern for
animals’ well-being. According to recent polls, 74% of Americans believe
that “humans have an obligation never to harm animals,” and 32% believe that
“animals deserve the exact same rights as people to be free from harm and
exploitation.”
A sign above a Whole Foods meat and seafood section claiming "A hearty
helping of Animal Compassion with every order."
However, Americans still love “their” meat. So, paradoxically, they also
tend to agree with statements to the effect that harm and exploitation are
okay as long as they are done sufficiently "humanely." Polls suggest that
most continue to believe that if an animal product is labeled “humanely
raised,” then those animals are in fact treated humanely. Nearly 70% said
they prioritize animal welfare in deciding what foods to purchase, but very
few of those people are avoiding animal foods altogether.
Instead, they are purchasing animal products that they have been led to
believe come from humanely-treated animals. Virtually nonexistent in the
20th century, the “certified humane” label is now applied to the flesh of
more than 1 billion animals annually today. And more than any other company
in the food business, Whole Foods has attempted to market itself as
compassionate toward animals, beginning in the early 2000s with its Animal
Compassionate label (and associated Global Animal Partnership certification
organization) and continuing with a $20 million “Values Matter” national
marketing campaign in 2014.
Inside every Whole Foods, you will see signs like this one designed to
convince you that Whole Foods cares about the animals whose flesh and bodily
secretions it sells and makes sure they are treated humanely. Whole Foods
says its animals are “responsibly raised” on farms where they largely roam
free and have the opportunity to engage in natural behaviors, stating that
“We are committed to and focus on animal welfare for all species of animals
raised for our meat department.” It even offered, at a store in Maine, to
“humanely” electrocute lobsters there at the store for customers who were
squeamish about boiling them alive at home.
An ad from Whole Foods' "Values Matter" campaign. Here, a human is holding a
chicken lovingly with the strange caption "Know what type of live your
dinner lived."
Whole Foods profits massively from making claims of humane treatment,
charging as much as five times the average price for turkey, for instance.
But even if everything Whole Foods said about treatment of animals on its
highest-rated farms were true, the “humane” claim rings hollow when we
realize that we would never allow anyone to kill our pet dogs or cats at a
tiny fraction of their natural lifespan. And a closer look at Whole Foods’
standards reveals that they allow for pigs and calves to be castrated
without anesthesia, for sows to be nose-ringed, for turkeys to be
“euthanized” by having their necks broken bare-handed, for male chicks to be
killed at birth because they cannot lay eggs, and for calves to be separated
from their mothers so that humans can have their milk.
Unfortunately, many animal protection organizations collaborated in
promoting the myth that animals were being treated humanely on farms like
the ones that supply Whole Foods. PETA gave Whole Foods an award for being
the “best animal-friendly retailer.” Veg News magazine honored Whole Foods
CEO John Mackey with its 2005 “Corporate Executive of the Year” award. Most
infamously, in 2005 philosopher Peter Singer wrote an open letter to Mackey,
co-signed by a virtual who’s who of prominent animal advocacy organizations
at the time, expressing “appreciation and support” for Whole Foods’
“pioneering initiative” in creating its farm animal compassion standards.
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. Critics, most
prominently Gary Francione, pointed out that this letter gave a “green
light” to consumers, even those who cared deeply about animals, to continue
purchasing animal products from Whole Foods based on the false idea that the
animals had a good life. Writer and activist James McWilliams called on
Whole Foods to stop selling meat altogether. Increasingly, the growing
abolitionist wing of the animal advocacy movement has questioned the claim
that advocating or expressing support for minor reforms in animal welfare is
a meaningful stepping stone toward abolishing animal exploitation
altogether.
And as Whole Foods’ efforts to market itself as a compassionate corporation
have increased, the spotlight has been shone ever more brightly on its
practices. It has been investigated and found guilty of price gouging, and
is so notorious for its high prices that many call it “Whole Paycheck.” It
was also found to have employed prison labor to produce some of its cheese
and fish, at a pay rate of 60 cents an hour.
An image from a recent DxE investigation of Diestel Family Turkey Ranch
depicting many turkeys in crowded, filthy conditions. [Read There’s Nothing Humane About Whole Foods Turkey]
Moreover, despite its lofty claims about its commitment to animal
welfare, Whole Foods has become a case study in why we should not believe
food corporations’ humane-washing hype. One investigation of a Whole Foods
supplier revealed young rabbits deprived of water in filthy cages before
being slaughtered for meat, with as many as 30 a day found dead before they
could even be sent to slaughter. Another found widespread disease and
suffering and crowded, filthy conditions at a “Certified Humane” cage-free
egg supplier. Last year, investigators from PETA—yes, the same PETA that 11
years ago signed on to Singer’s effusive praise of Whole Foods for its
concern for animal welfare—found pigs crammed into crowded sheds on concrete
floors at a Whole Foods supplier. Most recently, our own investigation of
one of Whole Foods’ highest-rated turkey suppliers, Diestel Ranch, showed
that contrary to Whole Foods’ claims that its turkeys live free on open
pastures, they were instead crammed into dark, disease-filled sheds.
Countless birds suffered and died, often afflicted with swollen crops the
size of grapefruits, completely unable to walk, or suffocating on
ammonia-filled air in extremely crowded conditions.
We have been “accused” by Diestel Ranch of wanting to “end farm agriculture
and meat consumption completely.” We stand guilty as charged. With these now
well-documented facts about the actual living conditions of animals marketed
by Whole Foods as “humanely raised,” and in light of the fact that there is
no such thing as humanely exploiting or killing animals, today we are
releasing a new open letter to Whole Foods CEO John Mackey. Co-signed by 25
other animal advocacy organizations, including three of the signatories of
Peter Singer’s original letter, this letter calls upon Whole Foods to end
its fraudulent marketing of animal agriculture as “humane” and to stop
supporting animal agriculture altogether.
Of course, Whole Foods is only the tip of the iceberg as far as animal
exploitation is concerned. Tens of billions of animals are killed every year
for food and tens of millions more for things like clothing and research.
Virtually all of them are leading short and miserable lives. As DxE
co-founder Wayne Hsiung said of Diestel Farms, “This farm was the best of
the best — literally in the top 0.1%. So if this farm is cruel, what does
that say about the rest of the industry?” Animals are not ours to use, and a
society that treats them as property dooms them to a life of cruelty and,
typically, an early death. Every animal deserves to be happy and free, and
we will keep fighting animal exploitation until that comes to pass.
Jeff Melton is a social psychologist, longtime vegan, and human and animal rights activist. He has organized with DxE since 2013.
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