Day–I am starting to lose count so I went to Whole Foods

So I went to Whole Foods today, the prestige of all grocery stores. The fresh produce glistening with drops of water from their hourly shower. The crackling sound of baked bread being slipped into brown bags for customers to grab fresh (although no bread for me) And then there is the meat department – each piece of meat all neatly organized in a refrigerator. They aren’t prepackaged and you have to tell the guy at the counter that is following you as you look behind the cool glass what you want.
Starting with chicken ending with lamb at the other end, each of the meats had a rating. I was very curious what this animal welfare rating was. I’ve never seen it at any grocery store I shopped at, but now it definitely sparked my interest.
After I picked up some fresh fruit and some hard boiled eggs I sat down to read the Animal Welfare pamphlet that Whole Foods provided. The program is supposed to encourage meat producers to improve the welfare practices of their animals and to attain higher steps (ratings), therefore striving for a better quality of life for the animals.

In the 12 pages it is broken down by each kind of meat they serve with a rating: chicken, pigs, beef cattle, and turkey. There are 5 steps, and each shows the requirements of the rating. It starts at 1, a bright orange box and works its way up to 5 in a crisp green box (I don’t know about you, but it reminds me of the terrorist threat ratings you see at the airport). So for example, a 5 Green plus rating for pigs would mean no castration of pigs, and pigs remain with litter mates for entire lives. Other requirements per step is limited number of transportation hours and it goes on and on.
I know I would be willing to pay a higher price for my meat knowing the animal had some dignity in the cycle of their life. There is no reason to have cattle and pigs and chickens cooped in unlivable pens just to be sent on a long miserable ride to their end. I think in my future I’ll be spending a lot more time buying my meat this way and shopping for my family in a way that is responsible to nature.