Like many people, we at Price Chopper/Market 32 are sensitive to the issue of animal welfare. While recognizing the demand to harvest animals that satisfy the food needs of our customers, we believe that all animals raised for food should be treated humanely.

As of today, the food production industries are governed by an array of animal welfare regulations developed and enforced by federal, state and local governments and authorities. In addition to governmental regulations and oversight, independent industry trade organizations and commodities groups have also developed their own stringent animal welfare guidelines to ensure the humane treatment of animals. We have confidence in the comprehensiveness of this regulatory framework, but we hold our suppliers and ourselves to an even more stringent set of standards. These standards are outlined below: 

Compliance Requirements:

·        At Price Chopper, in addition to holding our suppliers accountable to compliance with Federal, State and Local animal welfare regulations, we choose suppliers based on commitments and adherence to nationally recognized industry best management practice guidelines for each category of product that we sell.

·       We require the declaration of any violations of governmentally regulated animal welfare guidelines prior to the formalization of partnerships with new suppliers.

·       We require the disclosure of any breach in animal welfare regulation compliance by our suppliers and a written commitment as to how remedial action to address a violation will be taken. We also reserve the right to not do business with that supplier until we are satisfied that compliance has been restored.

·       For the purpose of animal welfare regulations compliance verification, Price Chopper/Market 32 further reserves the right to do its own independent audit and/or investigation of all suppliers on an as needed basis.

Sourcing Requirements and Commitments:

·        We require all of our suppliers to provide their corporate animal welfare guidelines to ensure that their methods and approach
align with our vision on the ethical and humane treatment of animals, inclusive of adherence to the internationally-recognized Five Freedoms:

1.      Freedom from hunger and thirst

2.    Freedom from discomfort

3.     Freedom from pain, injury, or illness

4.     Freedom to express characteristic behavior

5.      Freedom from fear and distress

·      We work with suppliers that follow  scientifically developed principles for the humane treatment of animals and source our products from suppliers that recognize and adhere to the guidelines of various universally-recognized standards in the industry, such as the Animal Welfare Act, National Chicken Council, American Humane Association (AHA) Certified, National Cattleman’s Beef Association, National Pork Board, National Turkey Federation, Marine Stewardship Council, Best Aquaculture Practices, United Egg Producers, National Milk Producer’s Federation, Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM), World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)and others.

·        We are and will continue to be product availability, range and price point sensitive in order to meet the spectrum of our customers food needs.

·        We will continue to seek out partnerships with suppliers that demonstrate industry innovation and leadership in animal welfare.

·        We are open to engaging our suppliers on sensitive animal welfare topics as they are brought to our attention and working with them to identify continuous improvement opportunities and qualitatively better alternative approaches.