Animal Welfare Standards

Prior to UNFI’s acquisition of SUPERVALU in 2018, each company had made commitments to improving animal welfare, including a transition to selling 100% cage-free eggs by 2018 (UNFI), 100% cage-free eggs in grocery retail banners by 2025 or sooner based on available supply, affordability and customer demand (SUPERVALU), and alignment toward the Better Chicken Commitment (UNFI). To date, 99% of eggs supplied from both our natural business and UNFI Canada are cage-free. Current market conditions, as well as our customer mix, make the remainder of these respective legacy commitments challenging, not only for us, but for the industry at large. While we have determined that the legacy commitments are no longer achievable for our combined business, UNFI remains dedicated to enhancing animal welfare outcomes across our value chain.

We have formalized and approved the following position statement and action plan for animal welfare standards in our supply chain that includes focused supplier communication on credible third-party certifications, point of sale signage, educational webinars, and improved placement of higher welfare products in our publications and ordering systems to increase visibility. We intend to continue seeking partnerships that support this enhanced position.

Overview

UNFI is steadfast in our belief that everyone deserves access to better food. We recognize that better food comes from a healthy planet, and we’re focused on doing our part. We take great pride in the products we supply.

As a food distributor, we deliver thousands of diverse products to meet the needs of our customers and the changing desires of today’s consumers. Like our customers, the welfare of the animals in our supply chain is important to us, and we recognize the necessity of healthy animals to ensure food quality and safety.

Our aim is to work with providers who share UNFI’s values and, as such, we have updated our Supplier and Vendor Code of Conduct to include certain requirements for our suppliers regarding animal welfare in their operations. This statement elaborates on our expectations.

Framework

We want to ensure that certain baseline animal welfare standards are met. As such, UNFI stands behind and is committed to working with our supply chain partners toward achieving the principles of the internationally accepted “Five Freedoms” for animals:

• Freedom from hunger and thirst
• Freedom from discomfort
• Freedom of pain, injury or disease
• Freedom to express normal behavior
• Freedom from fear and distress

As a purchaser of animal products, we are committed to partnering with our suppliers to not only comply with local, state, and federal regulations pertaining to the farming and processing of animals, but also meet or exceed UNFI’s standards, detailed below, in alignment with the Five Freedoms.

Focused Efforts to Improve Animal Welfare

Industry Engagement

As North America’s premier food distributor, we feel one of the best ways for us to improve animal welfare is by educating our associates and our network of over 10,000 suppliers and over 30,000 customer locations. We aim to provide transparency and options to our customers. As such, we plan to use trade shows, webinars, and written communications to better educate our network about animal welfare in support of our species-specific efforts (as stated below). We are dedicated to helping retailers achieve higher welfare products in their stores and meet their animal welfare commitments.

• UNFI Internal Education: We plan to train our Meat department and relevant key functions across the organization on key animal welfare topics.
• Customer Education: We commit to hosting at least one seminar session annually for our customers with the goal of educating on key animal welfare issues.
• Consumer Education: We are committed to working with our customers and intend to develop communication and educational tools to help inform consumers and ultimately drive demand for higher welfare products.

Species Specific Efforts

Cage-Free Eggs

As a food distributor, we deliver thousands of diverse products to meet the needs of our customers and the changing desires of today’s consumers. We are committed to actively working with suppliers to increase the availability of cage-free eggs, especially amongst our conventional retail customers. We have developed educational tools for retailers to help them in increasing the demand for cage-free eggs.

Broiler Chickens

UNFI aspires to achieve the animal welfare standards outlined in the Better Chicken Commitment for its natural chicken. We are committed to actively working with suppliers to increase the availability of broiler chickens meeting the BCC standards. In the near term, we aim to improve our reporting practices to be able to establish a baseline and measure commitments against this goal.

Ducks/Geese

UNFI does not sell foie gras due to the animal welfare practices associated with its production. We remain committed to this position.

Gestation Crates

There is currently limited supply of pork raised in open-pen systems in the market—and UNFI has been offering that product for many years. However, while some major pork producers have reduced the amount of time breeding pigs spend in crates, no major producers have pledged to fully eliminate their use of gestation crates. We will continue to engage pork producers—both those we currently source from as well as potential new vendors—to determine how best to increase the supply of pork from less restrictive environments.

We recognize that implementation of alternative systems will be a long-term process and our goal is to work with suppliers on efforts to move towards a less restrictive environment. UNFI will continue to support and promote pork suppliers who can demonstrate plans to create traceability and transition towards open pen housing.

Implementation Approach and Roadmap

In addition to the animal welfare requirements in our Supplier Code of Conduct, the implementation of this position statement includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Progress towards our animal welfare efforts will be reported in our annual Better for All report.
• UNFI plans to commence focused communication to suppliers on our position and expectations. UNFI also plans to create a retailer toolkit with in-store signage and consumer education resources.
• UNFI plans to work to develop a system to flag higher-welfare items in publications and ordering systems. UNFI also intends to facilitate multi-stakeholder collaboration on key animal welfare issues.
• UNFI plans to host educational webinars for its sales team, customers, and suppliers.

This position statement was last updated in October 2023.