Food service company agrees to adopt new policies regulating chicken suppliers

Sodexo, one of the leading food service providers in the world, has committed to adopt policies to enact sweeping welfare reforms in its U.S. chicken supply chain by 2024. This commitment follows strategic conversations with The Humane League and other animal protection organizations. The new policies adopt basic protections for chickens on factory farms where Sodexo sources its supply, most notably addressing the selective breeding of unnaturally fast-growing chickens. These chickens are bred to have a genetic makeup that forces them to grow to a very large size at a rapid rate, reaching a weight of up to 9 pounds by the time of their slaughter at 42 days old. This is approximately six times as fast as chickens grow naturally, and results in crippling injuries, suffering, and sometimes early death. 

With this announcement from Sodexo, all five of the largest food service providers in the United States have adopted commitments to eliminate the worst abuses suffered by chickens. Sodexo’s groundbreaking policies are a part of The Humane League’s 88 Percent Campaign, a series of campaigns addressing the most extreme cruelties in factory farming for chickens raised for meat, which represent 88.7 percent of all farmed land animals in the United States.

In the United States alone, this set of policies from Sodexo will affect all chicken purchased by more than 15 million consumers at 9,000 client sites. The food service company provides services for many sectors, including private corporations, government agencies, schools from elementary through university, hospitals and clinics, assisted-living facilities, military bases, and correctional facilities. 

Sodexo’s policies demand that its suppliers commit to slower-growing species of chickens on its farms per Global Animal Partnership standards. These chickens are more active and healthy, requiring less antibiotics and fewer veterinary visits. The new policies also require suppliers to enhance the living environments and stocking density of all their chickens, as aligned to GAP standards. The food service provider has also demanded that its suppliers eliminate live-shackling slaughter methods for chickens and instead opt for controlled or low-atmosphere stunning methods. Sodexo has committed to provide details on compliance to these new policies by a third-party auditor.

Recently, The Humane League helped secure similar policies from four of the five largest food service providers in the United States, including Aramark, Compass Group, Centerplate, and Delaware North. The Humane League anticipates that policies identical to Sodexo’s will be the new standard for a variety of food companies nationwide. 

To learn more, go to www.thehumaneleague.com.