Walmart puts new focus on animal welfare, antibiotic use
What’s in our food and what’s coming out? That appears to be the story of the moment as one food manufacturer, retailer or restaurant chain announces, almost on a daily basis, that it is removing artificial ingredients, going GMO-free or taking other steps that can be viewed as promoting the health of Americans and the farm animals they eat.
Perhaps the biggest news on this front came from Walmart, which last week announced it was updating its animal welfare policy to promote more humane practices. The company is asking suppliers to limit the use of antibiotics to treating animals for diseases and not fattening them up, a common industry practice, according to an Associated Press report.
Walmart is also asking suppliers to stop confinement practices, such as the use of pig gestation crates, and to avoid procedures such as castration without the use of appropriate pain medicines.
In a company blog, Walmart’s Kathleen McLaughlin, senior vice president – sustainability, wrote that the steps the chain has announced are part of an "ongoing journey" toward achieving a "safe and transparent" food chain.
Source: corporate.walmart.com/policies
"This is a historic and landmark day for the protection of farmed animals in America," Nathan Runkle, president of Mercy for Animals, told the Associated Press. "We urge Walmart to add greater teeth to this announcement by making the new guidelines a requirement rather than a mere recommendation and to set aggressive deadlines."
"It is ultimately our suppliers who are leading on safety and transparency," wrote Ms. McLaughlin. "As a retailer that sells products but does not produce them, we can use our strengths to influence change across our supply chain. The most impactful change, however, happens through partnerships."
Walmart’s move appears to make business sense, particularly when it comes to Millennials, who may be cash-strapped but are also more conscious about what they put into their bodies than their parents and grandparents. Millennials are also Walmart shoppers, according to a report by Moosylvania, which found the chain was among the five top brands favored by the age group.
Discussion Questions
What impact will Walmart’s revised guidelines on animal welfare and the use of antibiotics have on the company’s business and the food industry? What are your thoughts on the direction the industry is taking given the number of companies announcing changes in product formulation, use of antibiotics, etc.?
Poll
BrainTrust
Zel Bianco
President, founder and CEO Interactive Edge
Paula Rosenblum
Co-founder, RSR Research
I applaud Walmart’s changes. It will be certainly be interesting to see how farmers and suppliers handle these guidelines while still maintaining a low enough cost for Walmart consumers. Hopefully the draw of better practices will encourage people to pay just slightly more so that everyone can make a livable wage.
While the industry is benefiting off good press for these practices now, in several years it will most likely become the norm — those late to the game will see the cost and those who can really show transparency and clearly demonstrate their ethical practices to the consumer will reap the benefits.
A brief note on GMOs: according to the American Association of the Advancement of Science “The World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the British Royal Society, and every other respected organization that has examined the evidence has come to the same conclusion: Consuming foods containing ingredients derived from GM [genetically modified] crops is no riskier than consuming the same foods containing ingredients from crop plants modified by conventional plant improvement techniques.”
While I can understand GMOs being treated with skepticism for some reasons, I hope that retailers will not participate in fear-mongering by outright banning all GMOs.
The least we can do with the species we are raising for food is treat them humanely. I think this is much more a “pull” by consumers than a “push” on the part of the industry. I do think it’s the free market at work, and I applaud it.
Without getting into GMOs (it is becoming a religious issue, and I can tell already I’m on the opposite side of some other RetailWire panelists), I think what Walmart is doing is a decent first step in animal husbandry.
In full disclosure, I haven’t eaten meat or poultry for my entire adult life exactly because I am uncomfortable with raising things to kill them. It just strikes me badly. In other words, my opinion comes with some bias behind it.
The Wall Street adage goes “don’t fight the tape,” in consumer industries it might as well be “don’t fight the trend.”
Walmart is joining a growing list of retailers and fast food chains that are adapting to trends in consumer sentiments and behavior here and abroad on what is considered healthy food. What was blindly accepted 60 years ago is being challenged today and that makes for a more discerning society. People make choices every day and Walmart is positioning the company to take more of a leadership role with these early actions and in turn is building bridges to the future with Millennials, Generation Z and maybe even Boomers.
Bravo to Walmart for doing the “right” thing. They are obviously sensitive and reacting smartly to the concerns of the public.
But from a strategic point of view, they are also paving a road that would be hard for others to follow. All of the issues, animal welfare, use of antibiotic, GMOs, organic, et. al., are contrary to mass production in the supplier industry. The vast volume of product comes from suppliers whose business model is based on mass production. Those suppliers who follow the environmentally-friendly business model are a niche, though a growing one.
While Walmart represents about 25 percent of the grocery market, as an aggressive leader in this rush they could conceivably purchase the majority, if not more, of the environmentally-friendly production, leaving little for the rest of the marketplace. Now that is a competitive advantage.
There’s nothing better than when the BIG guys in retail make a move in the right direction. Whether it’s animal welfare, employee pay rates or environmental initiatives, when these big players make changes it forces everyone else to follow suit. Say what you will about Walmart, but they’ve made a lot of smart decisions like these over the past few years.
Implementation of any purchasing guideline must be placed on list of priorities. Getting product on the shelves at a landed cost that allows for corporate-mandated margin levels is much higher a need for practice and planning. Long-term vendors know this and will respond to all needs on a priority basis only to keep the orders coming in.
I think Walmart is being a great example. I respect that it is a recommendation and not a requirement since they can’t control the farms and obviously more regulation and requirements would force new practices that will increase costs. I think implementing this as a recommendation is smart. It will allow the suppliers to do their best to comply while making necessary changes over time. This should help improve the treatment of animals while pacing expenses associated with it. Nice job Walmart!
While we can all question if Walmart is being pure in motive, as in they are driven to do the right thing vs. realizing more sales will come from doing it, who cares? They are a huge influential force and it’s monumental to those who have been pushing for change on this topic for many years. Hopefully it starts a trend.
It is interesting given Walmart’s strong influence in scale of the supply chain upstream. As vendors move to comply with Walmart’s requirements it diffuses the cost of compliance when other retailers go towards the same route. Whether their motivation is corporate responsibility or profit, it is something to be applauded. The key will be the enforcement (which Walmart can be VERY effective in when it wants to be) to see how the report goes a year from now.
Walmart is just asking and suggesting. Therefore there will be no impact. This is just for the press release. Providing Walmart with the lowest price will still be top priority. Walmart will still reward suppliers more for low price than for following suggested guidelines.
This feels like a heads up to suppliers to what IS coming, giving suppliers time to get there on their own and work through the issues that come with this type of change. At some point they will move from guidelines to requirements. Those who use this time wisely will win in the future and not just with Walmart.
At the same time that Walmart is calling for humane animal practices. states are being pressured to pass ag-gag laws by suppliers, and these laws make it illegal to document what is going on in factory farms. So I would say that the influences are opposing each other. How will Walmart ensure that supplier comply to the new rules? When we have about 10 billion animals slaughtered in the US each year, the sheer volume of deaths make such rules impossible to follow.
Like others have noted, it is difficult to avoid practices like antibiotic use for fattening animals and remain profitable. If antibiotics were not used, animals will take longer to reach slaughter weight, adding to the cost of meat, dairy and eggs. To raise animals in the idyllic conditions in that consumers might want to think about, takes resources that the US just does not have. For example, there isn’t enough land to raise that number of animals “humanely.” See for example, the documentary Cowspiracy and the book “Comfortably Unaware” by Richard Oppenlander.
I see this as positive in that the treatment of animals is becoming known to consumers, and people clearly care about it. But actions by Walmart and others seem more like humane-washing rather than actually reducing harm. Humane-washing has been used successfully by Whole Foods and Chipotle, and such marketing practices can be used by any retailer, really.
This is absolutely the right move to make. Consumers care, and are paying attention. They’re reading labels and are looking for authenticity. Let’s hope that the other big players elect to take a leadership role as well.
The suggestions of Walmart’s PR department will not align with their pork buyer’s demands for lower costs.
Suffice to write that nothing will get in the way of Walmart’s mission to provide lowest price. Nor should it.