Progress from Compass Group, Sodexo, and Delaware North: Animals Will Be Spared from Worst Abuses

Following the launch of The Humane League’s Foodservice Provider Guide in August, passionate activists like you flooded Sodexo’s leadership with thousands of calls and emails. You hand-delivered a petition to Sodexo’s HQ (a petition that had garnered over 39,000 signatures!). You showed up nationwide at universities where Sodexo serves food—posting flyers, leafleting in cafeterias, and more. And thanks in huge part to your support, Sodexo responded to all three of our campaign asks—improving the lives of countless animals suffering in its supply chain.

But you didn’t stop there. Alongside other organizations, you shifted public pressure to Compass, driving in hundreds of digital actions and demanding accountability. Supporters showed up on the ground at Compass client locations across the country. We ran advertisement campaigns across multiple platforms. Over 30,000 dedicated activists like you signed our Change.org petition. And in early November, your actions culminated in a new statement from Compass Group USA, the largest food service provider in the US.

After both Sodexo and Compass Group laid plans to spare animals from abuse, it wasn’t long before competitor Delaware North came on board. Our team at The Humane League reached out to Delaware North to make it clear we planned to hold the company accountable and keep pace with the other leaders in its sector that had already announced roadmaps and updates to insufficient welfare policies. While advocates took advantage of the incredible momentum across the foodservice sector—taking hundreds of digital actions, leafleting, and garnering over 27,000 petition signatures—our team of negotiators met with Delaware North decision-makers to strengthen the company’s protections for animals. All of these actions, together, culminated in another breakthrough with Delaware North—one of the largest food service providers in the world—which will result in massive changes for chickens raised for meat and pigs!

This progress by major foodservice providers is life-changing—for pigs who spend their lives in claustrophobic gestation crates, for hens crowded in painful battery cages, and for chickens fated to endure a terrifying slaughter. And this monumental progress could only have happened with your support. You’re pushing companies to do more than talk about animal welfare. You’re pushing them to follow through.

The details of Sodexo’s statement

As the second largest foodservice provider in the US, Sodexo serves schools, university dining halls, hospitals, and office buildings around the country. In response to campaign pressure, the company made meaningful updates to all three of its animal welfare policies.

Here are the details of its animal welfare statement for broiler chickens, egg-laying hens, and pigs:

• "Broiler" chickens: Sodexo committed to sharing a roadmap in 2023, which will outline a plan for implementing all components of the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC). This science-based chicken welfare policy addresses issues related to breeding for fast-growth and high-yield, housing, stocking density, and slaughter. Sodexo plans to actively work with suppliers on a plan for implementing the BCC over the next few years.
• Egg-laying hens: Sodexo shared a “renewed dedication toward [its] 100% cage-free goal,” explaining that it expects to reach “virtually 100% within the next year.” The company will also start reporting on its progress every quarter—a critical component of remaining accountable to its promises for animals.
• Mother pigs: One major campaign ask was for Sodexo to eliminate the use of inhumane gestation crates, tiny metal crates used to confine mother pigs during their pregnancies. Sodexo announced that it will switch to reduced crate/gestation crate-housed pork by 2024, a year earlier than planned.

Sodexo’s commitment kickstarted a “domino effect,” putting tremendous pressure on Compass Group and Delaware North to release their own statements. Thanks in large part to your actions, Compass followed through, just a few weeks after Sodexo, with Delaware North following suit less than two months later!

More about Compass Group’s commitment

Compass Group is the largest foodservice provider in the US—serving hospitals, schools, corporate cafeterias, restaurants, and more around the country. Needless to say, the company is hugely influential in the foodservice sector and beyond.

In line with Sodexo’s commitment, Compass shared three key animal welfare updates for its US operations. Here are the details of its statement:

• “Broiler” chickens: Compass had already committed to exclusively source chickens from operations meeting Better Chicken Commitment standards. Now, it’s developing a roadmap outlining how it will meet all aspects of the BCC, which will be released in 2023.
• Egg-laying hens: Previously, Compass was 100% cage-free in the US, but those numbers dipped over the last few years amid supply chain disruptions. Now, Compass has committed to returning to 100% cage-free by the first quarter of 2023!
• Mother pigs: Like Sodexo, Compass is moving to “reduced” crate, or group-housed, pig operations by the summer of 2023. Compass states that mother pigs will be confined to crates for 5-7 days, which is far below the industry norm.

Critically, Compass Group also promised to cover all its brands with its animal welfare commitments! This means that countless companies in the foodservice and restaurant industries will be sourcing products from animals protected by these standards.

Delaware North's commitment to animals

Delaware North Companies is ranked fourth in foodservice by Food Management. A privately held company that operates on four continents, Delaware North mainly does business in stadiums and airports. The company owns TD Gardens in Boston and operates in more than 30 airports in the US, UK, and Australia, with 300 restaurants and retail stores. They also service the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for NASA in Orlando.

Delaware North’s US policies and plans for animals cover:

• “Broiler” chickens: Delaware North is working with its suppliers to meet Better Chicken Commitment standards by 2024 and, ahead of meeting that deadline, will share a more detailed roadmap and progress update on each of the components of the Better Chicken Commitment in 2023.
• Mother pigs: Delaware North announced new dedication to sparing pigs from intensive confinement. It’s committed to eliminating gestation crates by 2025, “ideally sooner.” Delaware North will share annual updates as it moves towards this goal.
• Egg-laying hens: As of September 2022, 92% of the chickens in Delaware North’s supply chains are spared from life in a cage with floor space no bigger than an iPad. The company plans to up that percentage to 100% by 2025.

With time-bound goals, and a commitment to sharing progress along the way, Delaware North is part of a growing movement to end the worst abuses animals face in our food system.

Why do these policies matter so much for animals?

These groundbreaking statements from Compass Group, Sodexo, and Delaware North are life-changing for animals suffering in the food industry—specifically for broiler chickens, egg-laying hens, and mother pigs.

All three companies committed to outlining specifics for how they plan to meet the Better Chicken Commitment, a standard created to protect chickens raised for food. These animals endure the worst forms of abuse imaginable, selectively bred to quickly grow so large that they can barely support their own weight. After a few short weeks of suffering through these conditions, chickens are brought to the slaughterhouse—where the industry shackles them upside-down by their ankles, slits their throats, and submerges them in scalding tanks. Many birds are still conscious when they enter the scalding tank, leaving them to be boiled alive. The Better Chicken Commitment spares chickens from these worst forms of abuse, protecting them from fast-growth breeding, overcrowding, and live-shackle slaughter.

Compass and Sodexo’s renewed cage-free commitments are also life-changing for hens. Much of the chicken industry traps egg-laying hens in battery cages for the majority of their lives, packing each hen into a space the size of a sheet of paper. These inhumane cages confine birds so tightly that they can’t even stretch out their wings, let alone engage in any of their natural behaviors. Because of their intensive confinement, intelligent hens spend every day in physical and mental agony. Thanks to these renewed 100% cage-free commitments, hens won’t have to suffer in these archaic conditions.

Finally, the companies’ time-bound commitments to shift to reduced-crate housing are life-changing for mother pigs. Factory farms keep pregnant pigs in gestation crates that are barely bigger than their own bodies, where they spend their entire pregnancies. Each pig is restricted so tightly that she can’t even turn around. Gestation crates cause such severe physical and mental anguish that several states, including Massachusetts and California, have voted to make them illegal. Reduced crate housing means that mother pigs are only confined to gestation crates for a very short period of time, far better than the months that are standard in the industry. It’s also a noteworthy step toward becoming 100% crate-free.

How can I help?

Compass Group, Sodexo, and Delaware North’s commitments have sent shockwaves across the entire foodservice industry and beyond. Momentum is building for animals. Right now, it’s critical that we leverage these breakthroughs toward more progress.

The world’s largest companies are hearing you! Will you take action now to end battery cages and spare countless hens from extreme suffering?