Burger King to Kill Animals Less Viciously

Burger King will be favoring suppliers of eggs that grow their chickens cage-free, and suppliers of pork that allow sows to move, a report in the New York Times says.

They will also be favoring suppliers that use "controlled-atmospheric stunning", aka gusts of wind, to knock chickens out before they're slaughtered. No, just kidding, that's a euphemism for knocking them unconscious with CO2. However, the CO2 method IS considered more humane than shocking them unconscious, which is the method currently widespread. (Who thought that would be less painful than just getting your head chopped off? Tasered and killed, or just killed? I'd prefer killed.)

That number will increase as costs come down and, hopefully, as the move puts pressure on these industries to change their practices.

Why? Here's what a spokesperson for BK had to say:

I had to quote that out of context, because it's so awesome. The context is that BK sees preferences for more humanely raised meat emerging, and wants to stay ahead of the game, rather than losing market-share and operating reactively.

Okay, cool. It's a step in the right direction.

(edit: Moderators, I have no idea if this should go in CE or Lifestyle, so feel free to move it.)

exactly. it's not great, but at least SOME efforts are being made to support the suppliers who don't viciously abuse their animals.

i'm trying desperately to be optomistic here. is it working?

Me too. I'm actually impressed that some of these chains are doing ANYTHING. Is it really affecting business that much, or is BK really trying to beat the "puck"?

No sabia bean. I bet I didn't read a sticky...

you're trying to drive me insane, when i clicked on the link it said NEWS:, when the page opened the NEWS: went away, and i sat here for a moment trying to figure out if i was hallucinating again.

I bet there is an increase in the number of people that follow a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle due to things like learning how a slaughterhouse actually works being more available.

I did some environmental testing for a slaughterhouse, i got to see first hand how it operates and it actually turned me off meat for quite some time, but the problem is, i like meat so i started eating it again, just not in the quantities i was prior to that. I am all for any company that can make it as pain free for the animal as possible, as hypocritical as that sounds.

Now, if only Burger King would make food that tasted good. And get rid of that creepy-ass King mascot.

Yea, your article was way too informative, interesting, relevant, and well written to be called "News" around here.

+1

Why doesn't the site just strip that out when posting from the boards?

I'll use NOT NEWS next time.

baby steps. baaaaby steps. i r'd tfa and it turns out that there were no adjustments to their sources of beef because they already had standards in place for it.

hopefully concern for animal welfare will trickle down slowly and actually find some traction in the minds of average north americans -- it was disheartening to read:

i know right? giving animals some basic measure of respect is totally for pussies.

Wasn't Mc'Donalds considered a leader in this a few years back? They didn't seem shy about it. Or was that much ado about nothing?

How dare you. The king is probably the best corporate mascot ever.

that's disgusting... there should be a chain of fast food restaurants that serves only veggie and import products... Bocaa Island! only veggie and pineapple!

Think of the conditions in which those poor veggires would be kept.

i'm a strong supporter in the anti-broccoli slaying campaign.

Now if only someone would invent a delicous veggie that looked cute and screamed in pain when it was harvested.

i love the Arrogant Worms.

I really like Burger King. It's delicious.

Untie your Beans !!!!!!!!!!!!

ha ha

It's just a cheesy yet creepy ripoff of the Jack-In-The-Box mascot.

I never heard a burger ask how it got so cold...

McD's and PETA disagree slightly on just what standard their animal welfare practices live up to. to their credit, they were the first fast food giant to even bother with animal welfare -- burger king followed and wendy's was actually a hold-out for a long time.