Whole Foods Market claims to be a leader in animal welfare standards, but recent investigations by Direct Action Everywhere (Whole Foods: The False Face of Humane Farming – Investigators Find “Certified Humane” Cruelty to Chickens) into Whole Foods’ supplier farms have uncovered horrible living conditions and abuse. Signs throughout Whole Foods stores carry slogans claiming “compassion for our animals,” but what investigators have uncovered are crowded, miserable, dark sheds filled with sick, starving, suffering and neglected animals.

In light of this and other investigations exposing Whole Foods’ lies, prominent animal organizations, including United Poultry Concerns, have joined forces to write an Open Letter to John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods.

The Letter reads in part, “Whole Foods deceives the public by marketing as humane an inherently inhumane practice, raising animals for food. GAP, the so-called third party behind Whole Foods’ animal welfare standards, is funded 92-95% by the company and has a tiny staff overseeing 290 million animals’ lives. Even worse, practices allowed by GAP include: castration of baby pigs without anesthesia, snapping birds’ necks by hand, and using hot irons to sear the heads of baby calves.”

View the Fox28 coverage of our Open Letter to Whole Foods.

What Can I Do?

You can write John Mackey directly and urge Whole Foods to be the first truly compassionate and humane national grocery chain by going vegan. And please share the truth with anyone who thinks the dead animals, eggs, milk and cheese for sale at Whole Foods represent “compassionate standards.”

John Mackey
Chief Executive Officer
Whole Foods Market
500 Bowie Street
Austin, TX 78703