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Walmart takes stand on animal welfare

Walmart (WMT) says customer demand has driven its latest policy change: that food suppliers must treat animals humanely and limit the use of antibiotics.

Walmart’s announcement outlines some of what they are asking their suppliers to adhere to:

  • Report and take disciplinary and corrective action in cases of animal abuse.

  • Find and implement solutions to address animal welfare concerns in housing systems, painful procedures and euthanasia or slaughter.

  • Promote transparency by providing progress reports to Walmart and publicly reporting against their own corporate animal welfare position on annual basis.

  • Adopt and implement the Judicious Use Principles of Antimicrobial Use from the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) including accurate record-keeping, veterinary oversight, and limiting antimicrobial treatment to animals that are ill or at risk.

  • Adopt and implement Voluntary Guidance for Industry #209 from the Food and Drug Administration in their own operations and their industry producer programs, including eliminating growth promotion uses of medically important antibiotics

  • Promote transparency by providing a report on antibiotics management to Walmart and publicly report antibiotic use on an annual basis.

McDonald's recently announced plans to stop using chickens treated with antibiotics
McDonald's recently announced plans to stop using chickens treated with antibiotics

The public groundswell that prompted McDonald’s (MCD) to phase out antibiotics in its chicken and Chipotle (CMG) to eliminate all GMO ingredients has now spread to the nation’s largest retailer and biggest grocer. But the Walmart guidelines are voluntary, not mandatory.

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Still, Yahoo Finance’s Aaron Task says it  marks a major development in the country’s desire to eat healthier. “If you’re a supplier to Walmart and they’re saying ‘we’d like you to do these things’ you’re probably going to do them over time,” Task says, “or you risk losing that business when they say ‘ya know what, if you’re not compliant by some date in the future we’re done with you.’”

Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Michael Santoli agrees, pointing out that Walmart “defines minimum decency standards. It’s so big and they have to keep prices so low that they essentially only come around to what it believes the public wants when they kind of have to.”

Task goes as far as to call it the latest shot in a food revolution. Add to it Taco Bell and Pizza Hut’s (YUM) announcement that they will eliminate artificial flavors and colors and it’s hard to ignore the changes.

Could Walmart’s policy mark the true turning point in the fight?

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