The fast food chain Hardee’s says it will stop buying pork from suppliers who use gestation crates – the cramped metal cages where many industrial pork producers house pregnant sows for most of their adult lives.
Hardee’s is headquartered in St. Louis. Along with Carl’s Jr. and their parent company CKE Restaurants, Hardee’s has committed to eliminate use of the crates from its supply chain by 2022.
The food policy director for the Humane Society of the United States, Matthew Prescott, says his organization applauds CKE’s decision.
“There aren’t many worse ways that animals suffer in America than pigs in gestation crates, and for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s to take such a strong stance sends a clear message to the pork industry that things just have to change," said Prescott.
The move by CKE Restaurants follows similar commitments by McDonald’s, Burger King, Safeway, and a number of other food companies earlier this year.
