News

Last month, the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau (NAD)—an institution designed to bolster consumer trust in advertising by investigating claims made by businesses—recommended that One Health Certified (OHC) discontinue its animal welfare claims.

To call foie gras controversial would be an understatement. To produce foie gras, male ducks and geese are force-fed by poorly paid farm workers several times a day until their livers become fatty and diseased. The resulting pale white meat of the liver is then sold to high-end restaurants for a few wealthy people to enjoy. Few food items are so widely viewed as cruel, or so succinctly capture the dynamics of an inequitable food industry.

The ask cites a recently published Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) report documenting the USDA’s failure to regulate animal-raising claims on meat found in grocery stores. Over 80 percent of the animal-raising claims on meat and poultry products that AWI requested information about from the USDA had no, or inadequate, information submitted to the USDA for the approval of the claim.

Chicken meat is a dietary staple for many millions of people worldwide, and eggs are a standard breakfast for many of us. However, the true cost of these proteins includes the suffering of billions of living beings. This suffering is largely due to intensive breeding programs that prioritize profit over the welfare of chickens, leading to genetic predispositions that plague birds with ill health and short lives.

Modern-day chickens raised for meat, called “broilers,” are a far cry from chickens just a few decades ago. They consume less food, grow more quickly, and reach a much larger size. As a result of all the ingenuity and invention that has gone into their genetics, chickens suffer immensely during their short lives, and today’s massive scale of chicken production wreaks havoc on the environment.

Bird flu is making global headlines. As an H5N1 outbreak ravages the U.S. poultry industry and egg prices reach record highs, scientists are ringing alarm bells that the virus could soon enter a new, more dangerous phase of its evolution.

A federal judge struck down North Carolina’s “Ag-gag” law, ruling that several of its provisions are unconstitutional and violate the First Amendment.

Although pigs are recognized as one of the most intelligent species, most pigs are housed by the thousands in crowded conditions with very little to stimulate them mentally.

From the Jewish Initiative for Animals’ Is This Kosher? campaign—while the dairy source of our shepherd ancestors came primarily from small-scale herds of goats and sheep, most Jews now consume the most widely available commercial products from industrial dairies.

From the Jewish Initiative for Animals’ Is This Kosher? campaign—chickens have lived with Jewish communities for millennia, domesticated 4,000–10,000 years ago. Historically, however, chicken was never consumed in the quantities most people in the industrialized world eat today.

From the Jewish Initiative for Animals’ Is This Kosher? campaign—the true cost of fishing is always higher than it appears.

For centuries, the question of what’s “fit” for Jewish communities has guided our daily actions and reflected our religious identities and moral values.

Farm Forward supports the Industrial Agriculture Accountability Act of 2022. The bill would establish a new office to hold the industry accountable and would implement reforms that would benefit not only meat and poultry workers but also the billions of farmed animals killed every year in the U.S.

Findings from our recent survey show what American consumers understand about the farmed-animal industry; promising insights, and some troubling beliefs.

Major corporations cash in on so-called “humane” labels like “antibiotic free”, “natural”, and “organic”, even though their corresponding husbandry practices almost never match consumers’ expectations for animal welfare.

Whole Foods Market has claimed all of their meat products come from animals not treated with antibiotics, but our findings suggest otherwise.

Farm Forward’s public service announcement was censored in the two cities where Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting kicked off. Read why.

The National Chicken Council’s response to New York Times enlightening video misses the mark, and on purpose, for these reasons. Learn more.

The history of Farm Forward’s efforts to reveal the truth behind Whole Foods advertising practices around animal products tells its own tale.

GAP and Whole Foods have failed to prevent the use of drugs in their supply chains, raising questions about the claims they make about their meat. 

Farm Forward welcomed the World Health Organization (WHO) Intergovernmental Negotiating Body’s recent request for public guidance on the question, “What substantive elements do you think should be included in a new international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response?” 

Beef certified by Global Animal Partnership (GAP), the animal welfare certification used primarily by Whole Foods Market, was found to contain antibiotic residue despite GAP’s and Whole Foods’ claims that their meat is “antibiotic-free.”

Farm Forward has found a variety of drugs, including an antibiotic, in meat certified as having “no antibiotics, ever” taken from products purchased from Whole Foods store shelves.

GAP’s “better chicken” is better for business, but consumers, public health, the environment, and, of course, the chickens themselves are not necessarily better off when factory farmed products are viewed more favorably.

The data confirms what JIFA has inferred from previous research that shows people think kosher food is inherently better: consumers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, extend this belief to the way farmed animals are bred and raised, despite the fact virtually all kosher and non-kosher meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs come from animal raised on factory farms.

A letter from the founder – the third in a three-part series reflecting on the public’s movement toward the will to end factory farming.

A letter from the founder – the second in a three-part series reflecting on the public’s movement toward the will to end factory farming.

A letter from the founder – the first part in a three-part series reflecting on the public’s movement toward the will to end factory farming.

Bernard Rollin was one of the world’s leading animal ethicists and a fierce advocate for animal welfare.

You may be with the majority of Americans who rely too heavily on label claims by meat manufacturers but are we also duped by the certifiers?

Changing farming takes working with and learning from farmers directly. Internationalizing the fight beyond US borders ensures all farmers everywhere are heard and retain the right to farm according to their values.

Grocery chain Giant Eagle has revealed its plans to phase out all “One Health Certified” (OHC) chicken from its stores.

United Nations scientists warn that a climate catastrophe is coming, and a leaked UN document urges a shift to plant-based proteins as a strategy to stave off the most dire scenarios.  

Myq Kaplan of Comedy Central, The Tonight Show, and Letterman fame has narrated a thought-provoking new video to combat false advertising by massive meat, egg, and dairy companies.