MINNEAPOLIS - Target Corp. is the latest major food company to tell its pork suppliers to phase out the use of cramped stalls for confining pregnant sows.
The Minneapolis-based discounter, the country's No. 4 food retailer, says on its Responsible Sourcing website that it's working with its pork vendors to eliminate gestation crates from its supply chain by 2022.
The announcement was welcomed Friday by the Humane Society of the United States, which says Target is joining more than 30 food companies that have agreed to eliminate the cages, including retailers like Costco and Kroger and producers including Smithfield, Hormel and Cargill.
Pork producers use gestation crates because they stop sows from fighting, but the animal welfare group opposes them because they're typically too small to let sows even turn around.
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Target Corp. Responsible Sourcing site: http://corporate.target.com/corporate-responsibility/responsible-sourcing
Humane Society of the United States: http://www.humanesociety.org
