McDonald’s buys about 1 percent of the U.S. pork supply, being one of the largest purchasers of bacon and sausage, which it uses in sausage McMuffins, breakfast platters, and McRib sandwiches. The gestation cages being used by the pork suppliers are typically about 2 by 7 feet which does not even give enough leeway for a full-size sow to turn around. Moreover, the pigs in these pens are more susceptible to illnesses and suffer psychologically also because they are social and intelligent animals.

 

McDonald’s said that Smithfield Foods Inc. is the first to take the lead in withdrawing the use of the animal enclosures. The president of the Humane Society said that it is wrong to keep animals immobilized in crates for their whole lives where they cannot even turn around. However, a consultant said that “separate pens keep hogs from fighting.”