PETA calls on Safeway to adopt CAK poultry slaughter

A representative of PETA, which is a Safeway shareholder, will present a resolution to executives at the company’s annual meeting to accommodate specific poultry welfare standards.

PETA wants Safeway to purchase all its turkeys from suppliers that use what PETA believes is a less cruel method of poultry slaughter, being controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK) by the end of 2010. It will also require its chicken suppliers to switch to CAK within 5 years.

Safeway already buys some turkey from suppliers that use CAK, but PETA wants the company to commit to taking action to fully eliminate the “worst abuses that chickens and turkeys endure”.

“Safeway has started making animal welfare reforms, but it is time for the company to put a timeline on its commitments to improve conditions for the chickens and turkeys who end up on its shelves,” says PETA Executive VP Tracy Reiman. “Consumers care about animal welfare, so the best thing that any business can do is to take action to reduce animal abuse.”