Hitting Our 25% Humane Target
Prioritizing third-party-certified humanely raised eggs, beef, pork, chicken, and turkey
"We believe in delivering on our promises, reporting on our challenges, and in continually striving to seek out the most ethical, socially and environmentally responsible food we can manage as a company our size."
Chief Strategy and Brand Officer Maisie Ganzler
In 2012 we vowed to take a series of concrete steps to improve the welfare of animals in our food supply, including ceasing all purchases of foie gras and crated veal, switching to Certified Humane ground beef, to cage-free precracked (a.k.a. liquid) eggs (our shell eggs have been cage free since 2005), and to pork from sows raised without dependence on gestation crates.
The final remaining challenge was to source at least 25 percent of all our meat, poultry and egg purchases companywide from producers that meet one of four third-party animal welfare humane certifications: Humane Farm Animal Care, Animal Welfare Approved, Global Animal Partnership (GAP), and Food Alliance. These four represent the top tier in verifiable standards, ones that not only prohibit such cruel practices as gestation crates and battery cages, but also require animals to be allowed to engage in their natural behaviors.
In July 2016 we first hit that target, and we completed fiscal 2017 at 26.7% certified product. Millions of Bon Appétit’s purchasing dollars are now being directed monthly to both small and large producers who treat their animals responsibly and humanely.