Wal-Mart, other retailers, and restaurants are demanding that food suppliers treat animals better, and consumers flocking to organic foods. Thus, numerous food companies, such as Tyson Foods, the largest U.S. meatpacker, are phasing out use of human antibiotics, and are “housing” animals more humanely. Wal-Mart says their suppliers must begin to “raise animals with sufficient space for them to express normal behaviors and freedom from discomfort.” Wal-Mart wants the use of battery cages for chickens, gestation crates for hogs, and veal crates for cows to be eliminated, although such small confined areas are currently used to raise many chickens, pigs, and cows in the USA. Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the Humane Society of the USA, wants Wal-Mart to set a timeline for compliance. Parents want their children to eat food raised without use of growth hormones and antibiotics. Sales of organic milk, eggs, and other food products are booming, even at the higher prices. Wal-Mart is by far the larges grocer in the USA, with grocery accounting for 56 percent of the company’s $288 billion in sales in 2014.

Source: Based on Sarah Nassauer, Wal-Mart: Food Suppliers Must Treat Animals Better,” Wall Street Journal, May 23-24, 2015, p. B3.