Thank you Perdue® for sponsoring this post.
I have been an animal lover for as long as I can remember – bringing home random stray animals and spending time volunteering at local shelters. Animal welfare has always been important to everyone in my family.
That may seem strange since we all also live a ketogenic lifestyle, where our main source of food is meat, but we do make the conscious choice to not only choose meats that are from cage-free farms but to also give thanks and not take for granted what is on our plates.
Perdue® is a company I have chosen many times because of their quality but also their known commitment to animal welfare. Perdue is a family of brands that believe in responsible food and agriculture. Every day they are working to be more forward-thinking in raising chickens for food as well as creating a set of best practices that we as consumers can feel good about.
Perdue Foods hosted its 3rd Annual Animal Care Summit on July 11 and 12, 2018, in Salisbury, MD where they brought together animal care experts, advocates, customers, farmers, as well as the Perdue leadership team to discuss advancements in animal care. By literally opening the doors and windows to their facility, they have shown their dedication to these birds’ lives and well-being as well as furthered the dialogue to continue to improve animal care.
I followed along with this event on social media, and I was impressed with how open and honest everyone was – even when the tough questions came up. These are tough but necessary discussions that I think we all should value.
What really struck me is that unlike most food producers who are focused mainly on productivity, Perdue is also focused on the welfare of the chickens, and what they need. They believe in “The Five Freedoms” for how they raise and keep all of their birds. Those freedoms are:
1. Freedom from hunger and thirst with continuous access to 100% veggie diets free from any animal by-products.
2. Freedom from discomfort in state of the art temperature controlled chicken houses, many of which offer outdoor access and plenty of natural lighting. They even have “lights off” resting periods to make sure their chickens get the rest they need.
3. Freedom from pain, injury or disease with constant supervision and veterinary care when needed. Perdue is the leader in raising healthy animals with no antibiotics and no genetic engineering – ever.
4. Freedom to express normal behaviors.
5. Freedom from fear and distress with a zero-tolerance policy toward animal abuse and emergency procedures in place for any kind of natural disaster.
I am very proud of how Perdue is changing the chicken industry, and I hope more companies follow in their footsteps and focus on animal welfare and not just production or quotas.
Perdue is going over and above for animal welfare, which is why this animal-loving household will always choose Perdue. Check out their website to learn even more about Perdue Foods Animal Care Commitment.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
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