Burger King will buy cage-free eggs, pork from uncrated pigs

Does anyone remember a guy named HITLER and a GAS Fetish?

In what animal-welfare advocates are describing as a "historic advance," Burger King, the world's second-largest hamburger chain, said Tuesday that it would begin buying eggs and pork from suppliers that did not confine their animals in cages and crates.

The company said that it would also favor suppliers of chickens that use gas, or "controlled-atmospheric stunning," rather than electric shocks, to knock birds unconscious before slaughter. It is considered a more humane method, though only a few slaughterhouses use it.

The goal for the next few months, Burger King said, is for 2 percent of its eggs to be "cage-free," and for 10 percent of its pork to come from pig farms that allow sows to move around inside pens, rather than being confined to crates.

The company said those percentages would rise as more farmers shift to these methods and more competitively priced supplies become available.

Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, said Burger King's initiatives put them ahead of their competitors in terms of animal welfare.

"That's an important trigger for reform throughout the entire industry," Pacelle said.

Burger King's announcement is the latest success for animal-welfare advocates.

Last week, celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck announced that he would only use meat and eggs from animals raised under strict animal-welfare codes.

And in January, Smithfield Foods, the largest food processor, said it would phase out confinement of pigs in metal crates over the next decade.