Commitment To Animal Welfare

Wakefern’s Animal Welfare and Care Program extends to 10 different species. We work with our vendors to ensure that our brands are sourced from suppliers who meet our animal welfare standards and promote the humane treatment of animals at all times. We require our suppliers to follow strict policies when it comes to the humane treatment of animals. Our guiding principles, standards, and audit program address animal care from housing to harvest and are based on the following five basic freedoms:

From hunger and thirst
From discomfort
From pain, injury or disease
To express most normal behaviors
From fear and distress

Wakefern’s Animal Care Policy

Wakefern’s Guiding Principles

Wakefern’s Animal Care Policy

At Wakefern Food Corp., we want to provide our customers with responsibly sourced food. We consider good animal welfare practices to be part of our corporate culture to ensure a sustainable food supply to our customers.

An integral part of our responsibility is the humane treatment of animals. We believe it is our moral and ethical obligation to make certain that animals are raised, handled, transported and processed in ways that ensure they are safe and free from cruelty, abuse or neglect. We work diligently with our suppliers to ensure humane handling practices for all animals that provide our customers with meat, poultry and dairy products.

Because animal welfare is important to us, we require our suppliers to ensure that the animals raised for food production are reared in accordance with the Wakefern Sustainable Animal Welfare and Animal Care Guidelines and Standards and all legal requirements.

In addition, our suppliers are evaluated by a third-party certified animal welfare auditor to ensure compliance with our standards and policy. We also track our vendors’ animal welfare audits to ensure that they are abiding by our policies.

Wakefern’s Guiding Principles

We work with our vendors to ensure that our brands are sourced from suppliers who meet our animal welfare standards and promote the humane treatment of animals at all times. We require our suppliers to follow strict policies when it comes to the humane treatment of animals and we are committed to these guiding principles for animal care from housing to harvest.

Management
All animals are assured five basic freedoms:

From hunger and thirst
From discomfort
From pain, injury or disease
To express most normal behaviors
From fear and distress

Animal Handling
Animals are handled in a humane manner that minimizes the risk of pain, injury or distress.

Practices
Proper animal care practices are based on science, as well as moral and ethical obligations and values.

Feed/Water/Nutrition
Animals at all stages of their lives must have access to quality feed and clean water in adequate quantities to meet their nutritional requirements for good health.

Health
Suppliers must attend to their animals’ health needs in a timely manner and in accordance with a written herd-health plan developed in consultation with the herd veterinarian.

Housing
Animals must be provided with housing and facilities that are constructed, maintained and operated in a manner that minimizes animal distress or injury.

Transportation
Transportation of animals is handled in a safe, secure manner that minimizes their stress.

Special Needs Animals
Animals requiring extra medical attention should be provided the best possible treatment through specific special needs-management practices.

Training
Our suppliers will set requirements for the competence training of managers and all other individuals responsible for the animals’ care and handling.

Continual Improvement
Our suppliers will embrace animal welfare advances that lead to continual improvement.