Whole Foods Meat Labeling Subject of PETA Lawsuit Over False Claims

The lawsuit comes just days after national animal welfare groups ASPCA, Humane World for Animals (formerly Humane Society of the United States), and Compassion in World Farming quietly fled the board of directors of GAP, where they sat for more than a decade.

Washington – PETA filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia over the sale of meat products that carry the Whole Foods-backed “animal welfare certified” labels yet come from factory farms, including ones where it has been documented that animals have been kicked, slammed, suffered dislocated wings, and endured many other egregious cruelties; and ones from which cruelty-to-animals charges have emanated.

The lawsuit names Whole Foods’ creation, Texas-based Global Animal Partnership (GAP), the group responsible for the labels, which claims that its “animal welfare” standards are enforced by “independent” auditors. But PETA’s lawsuit outlines numerous ties between GAP, Whole Foods, and its auditors, including that the CEO of the company that manages GAP and the owner of the company that performs its “animal welfare audits” are the same. PETA also points out that it has taken PETA’s undercover investigations and whistleblower reports, and not GAP auditors, to expose extreme cruelty to animals:

• At Farmer Focus, whistleblowers reported that chickens had bruised, broken, and dislocated wings from being slammed into cages for transport to the company’s slaughterhouse. Farmer Focus was and is still GAP-certified.
• At Plainville Farms, workers kicked, beat, and threw turkeys violently about, and left sick and injured birds to suffer without veterinary care. Plainville was GAP-certified at the time.
• At Sweet Stem Farm, pigs were crammed into severely crowded sheds on concrete floors and had painful, bloody rectal prolapses as large as an orange that were left untreated. Sweet Stem Farm was GAP-certified at the time.

“Whole Foods profits from this scheme by misleading kind shoppers by enticing them to buy factory-farmed meat,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA reminds everyone that the only guaranteed humane food is vegan.”

The lawsuit comes just days after national animal welfare groups ASPCA, Humane World for Animals (formerly Humane Society of the United States), and Compassion in World Farming quietly fled the board of directors of GAP, where they sat for more than a decade. The mass exodus followed multiple vigorous actions by PETA, including manure dumps outside the groups’ headquarters, actor James Cromwell throwing his lifetime achievement award from Humane World for Animals into the trash, billboards condemning their endorsement of cruelty to animals, and public appeals to their members.

Background information alleged in the lawsuit about GAP and its conflicts of interest with Whole Foods and its auditors follows.

Global Animal Partnership and Whole Foods History, per PETA’s lawsuit:

• In 2005, Whole Foods initiated what eventually became the GAP program.
• GAP spun off as an independent organization in 2008.
• A Whole Foods executive remained GAP’s executive director from 2014 until Organic Plus Trust, founded by William Jay Friedman, took over in 2022.
• Friedman is the founder and sole owner of GAP’s auditor, EarthClaims LLC.
• Friedman previously worked as an attorney for Whole Foods while in private practice.
• Whole Foods has continuously held a seat on GAP’s board.

  

About PETA

PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.