Wendy’s praises O.K. Foods’ processing method

O.K. Foods is part of new animal welfare standards recently announced by Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy’s that are designed to “significantly improve the humane treatment of chickens and pigs.”

Wendy’s, the third-largest U.S. quick-service hamburger restaurant company with more than 6,500 franchises and company restaurants, praised the use by O.K. Foods of a low atmospheric pressure system (LAPS) to kill chickens prior to processing.

“We believe that humane animal handling methods not only prevent needless suffering by the animals, but can result in a better and safer working environment for workers in farm and livestock industries,” Dennis Hecker, head of Wendy’s Animal Welfare Council and SVP of Quality Assurance, said in this statement.

O.K. Foods first announced use of LAPS in September 2010. The company said its new system of killing chickens was installed in processing plants in Fort Smith and Heavener, Okla.

As of October 2011, OK Industries processed 2.5 million chickens per week, and had annual sales of about $600 million. The formerly Fort Smith-based company supplies grocery retailers, foodservice distributors and commodity customers in all U.S. as well as foreign markets. OK was purchased Nov. 1, 2011, by Celaya, Mexico-based Industrias Bachoco in an estimated $93.4 million deal.

The “Low Atmospheric Pressure System” works by reducing the oxygen level in poultry live-haul cages, which “causes hypoxia and a sense of euphoria similar to climbing to altitude in an airplane,” according to a statement from O.K. Foods.

At the time, O.K. Foods officials explained: “LAPS is a superior alternative to conventional electrical stunning because birds are insensible before unloading, shackling and stunning, reducing bird stress levels and eliminating animal welfare concerns as birds are introduced to the plant.”

Wendy’s is the first quick-service restaurant chain to endorse the LAPS system.

“We’ve studied the LAPS system and agree that it’s a major improvement to industry practices,” Hecker said in the statement. “We encourage all chicken producers to embrace this practice.”

Wendy’s is the first QSR chain to endorse the LAPS system.

PIGS
Wendy’s also announced it will work with U.S. and Canadian pork suppliers to eliminate the use of sow gestation stalls over time.

“The Company believes that confining sows in gestation stalls is not sustainable over the long term, and moving away from this practice is the right thing to do.”

Since 2007, Wendy’s has given preferential buying to suppliers who adopt an ongoing plan to phase out single sow gestation stalls. As a result, a steadily increasing portion of Wendy’s pork supply has come from hogs not raised in gestation stalls.

“To monitor and enforce Wendy’s high standards for animal welfare, all Wendy’s beef, poultry and pork suppliers in the U.S. and Canada are regularly audited through announced and unannounced visits by trained inspectors,” the company said of its auditing program. “Nearly 1,200 audits have been conducted over the last 11 years. Importantly, suppliers who fail to meet the Company’s animal welfare standards are terminated.”