What more will it take, Home Chef?

Sign the petition at PatVihtelic.com.

Consumers across the globe are demanding more transparency about the sources of their food— especially with regard to animal welfare. In response to public pressure, food companies are committing to do better. While there is still much work to be done to help the billions of chickens raised for meat each year, having companies improve their animal welfare will pressure others to follow suit and in turn, improve the lives of billions of animals.

In September 2020, Animal Equality launched a campaign targeting three meal kit service companies for their lack of a public commitment to higher animal welfare in their chicken supply chains. The companies, which include Gobble, Yumble, and Home Chef, have all either refused to disclose any chicken welfare policy they adhere to or whose standards do not match up with what their customers would expect.

With typical chicken farming:
– chickens are bred to grow at an alarmingly unnatural rate, causing leg deformities, organ failure, and heart attacks in these baby birds;
– each flock, which consists of tens of thousands of birds, are kept in dim, windowless sheds and are unable to perform natural behaviors;
– chickens are forced to live in their own waste, with ammonia levels so concentrated that many suffer from painful chemical burns;
– birds at the slaughterhouse are violently shackled upside down and then have their throats slit, often while they’re still conscious.

Visitors to the campaign page, MealKitCruelty.com, have the ability to vote for who they believe to be the worst meal kit for animals, as well as sign petitions for all three demanding that the company executives take animal welfare seriously. After months of campaigning, Home Chef was the clear “winner” for the worst of the worst.

Home Chef has made questionable statements regarding their animal welfare, marketing “high quality” products and claiming to “source responsibly as often as (they) can.” Yet, without an established chicken welfare policy, Home Chef is most likely allowing some of the cruelest factory farming practices in their chicken supply chain.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Over 200 brands in the United States have adopted the Better Chicken Commitment, a comprehensive set of welfare reforms that address the worst abuses suffered by chickens on today’s farms. Even Home Chef’s main competitors, including Blue Apron, HelloFresh, and Sun Basket, have stepped up and put an end to the most horrific practices.

After a year of imploring that Home Chef raise their standards, the company is seemingly no closer to doing so. Hundreds of calls, emails, social media messages, and more have simply been ignored.

Join me in urging Home Chef — and their CEO, Pat Vihtelic — to do better, for its customers, and the animals in its supply chain by adopting the Better Chicken Commitment. Sign the petition at PatVihtelic.com.