Eleven years after it committed to phasing out confinement for pigs and laying hens by 2018, Calgary Co-op is facing renewed calls from an animal-welfare organization to provide a public update on how, or whether, it has changed how it sources its meat and eggs.
The calls for transparency also come seven years after the company last addressed those commitments to the public, saying the full phase-out of inexpensive products was unfeasible.
A report published Wednesday by Mercy for Animals, a non-profit charity that aims to prevent cruelty to farmed animals, placed Calgary Co-op tied for last among major Canadian grocers for animal welfare practices — primarily due to the company’s lack of reporting on its policies for phasing out certain practices — with the organization giving the local chain a score of zero.
To date, despite advancements in the industry and retail sector, as well as these requests from members, Calgary Co-op has neither published policies to promote animal welfare nor demonstrated progress toward improving the welfare of pigs and chickens in their supply chain,” Mercy for Animals’ report reads.
The issue of Calgary Co-op’s animal welfare practices first arose in 2013, when members voted on a non-binding resolution calling for the end of the sale of eggs and pork using intensive confinement cages, such as battery cages and gestation stalls, by 2018.
Advocate and Co-op member Clint Robertson raised the issue again in 2017, calling for Co-op to commit to new standards after feeling disaffected by the lack of progress since the 2013 vote. That 2017 vote to members failed, he said in an interview Wednesday.
Though Co-op had added more free-range options to its shelves by 2017 and had added a new line of antibiotic- and hormone-free pork, it decided that a full phase-out of inexpensive products raised using conventional cages was unfeasible.
Robertson brought back the issue at the time over frustrations with Co-op’s progress on the issue.
“When this resolution was brought forward, the economic times we are currently experiencing were not contemplated,” a Co-op spokesperson said in 2017. “While it is noble in the long run to phase out eggs and pork that do not meet the terms of the resolution, this is now less economically viable for the average Co-op member.”
Robertson, who now lives in Toronto, said he’s disappointed in Co-op’s apparent lack of progress on the issue, particularly given he believes the Co-op model should lead company executives to be more responsive to member concerns.
“I think that Co-op could have been a leader in this. Instead, it’s a laggard and a follower being pulled along” he said.
Calgary Co-op did not respond to a request for comment.
However, Alberta’s egg industry has made a substantial shift away from battery cages for chickens, the previous standard housing for hens. As of the end of 2023, 63 per cent of Alberta farms had shifted over to “enriched” housing that provides nest boxes, perches, scratch pads and dust baths. The industry is aiming to hit 85 per cent by 2031.
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