Mercy For Animals Lauds Moe's Southwest Grill For Critical Animal Welfare Improvements

Improved Standards Will Greatly Reduce Suffering for Millions of Chickens, Group Urges Moe's Competitors to Catch Up

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Jul 28, 2017, 15:43 ET

ATLANTA, July 28, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- FOCUS Brands, Atlanta-based parent company of Moe's Southwest Grill, Schlotzsky's, McAlister's Deli, Cinnabon, Carvel, and Auntie Anne's, pledged today to reduce suffering for millions of chickens raised and slaughtered in its supply chain.

FOCUS Brands' animal welfare policy will meet standards set by Global Animal Partnership (GAP), an international animal welfare rating program, which include the following:

Using breeds with measurably improved welfare because most chickens are bred to grow so fast that many collapse under their own weight
Ending extreme crowding and providing each chicken more floor space
Keeping chicken litter clean enough to prevent eye sores, flesh burns, and respiratory distress
Improving lighting standards, including at least six hours of darkness each night and 50 lux of light during the day, to decrease illness and disease
Ending live-shackle slaughter in favor of less cruel systems, such as controlled-atmosphere stunning, which eliminates the suffering caused by shackling, shocking, and slitting the throats of conscious animals

The new policy, a result of discussions with Mercy For Animals, will be implemented in full by 2024. FOCUS Brands' commitment follows a wave of identical commitments from other major chains, including Subway, Burger King, Chipotle, Qdoba, Quiznos, Panera Bread, and Starbucks.

"FOCUS Brands has taken a significant step to reduce animal cruelty by making a public commitment to improving chicken welfare in accordance with GAP standards," said Brent Cox, vice president of corporate outreach with Mercy For Animals. "It is time for other leading restaurant chains, such as Arby's, to ban needless abuse from their supply chains. Consumers are demanding companies ban the most cruel practices from their supply chains, and those that fail to do so are quickly falling behind competitors."

To learn more about Mercy For Animals and its efforts to help farmed animals, visit MercyForAnimals.org. The best way for individual consumers to protect chickens and other farmed animals from cruelty is simply to leave them off their plates.

SOURCE Mercy For Animals