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McDonald’s is a topic at Pork Forum

At this week’s National Pork Forum in Denver, pork producers are discussing several issues of importance to the pork industry.

One of those is the recent announcement by McDonald’s that it wants to transition its pork supply away from farmers who use conventional sow gestation stalls.

National Pork Board CEO Chris Novak says that, in discussing that decision with McDonald’s, they emphasized that pork producers are committed to providing the best care to each and every individual animal.

“That’s a message we’ll continue to take to McDonald’s and to every other food company,” Novak says, “and we’ll hope that their decisions that they make in the future are based on sound science—and what’s truly best for the animals–as opposed to simply making decisions that may be based only on consumer perceptions and/or threats of intimidation.”

Novak says that, while he doesn’t expect McDonald’s to reverse its decision, he hopes they take a closer look at the welfare advantages and disadvantages of various production systems.

“At this juncture, certainly, we would expect them to move forward, as they’ve made a public announcement—to the extent that I think the details have to be worked out,” Novak says.

“I think McDonald’s needs to understand the percent of production today that’s coming from the various types of swine production barns.”

It has been estimated that between 60 to 70 percent of sows in the U.S. are currently housed in gestation stalls.

The Pork Forum runs through Saturday in Denver.

AUDIO: Chris Novak on Pork Forum topics (10:36 MP3)