Tim Horton’s pushes for sow gestation crate phase-out by 2022

Canada’s iconic coffee-and-donut chain will move to source pork from alternative open housing in the future

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

Canada’s beloved coffee-and-donut chain Tim Horton’s announced Wednesday [April 3] that it expects a move away from sow gestation crates and a transition towards open housing starting by the year 2022.

Tim Horton’s said that it has consulted with its suppliers and the pork industry, along with other stakeholders, on the use of gestation stalls for breeding sows. The company said in a statement "by 2022, we will source pork from suppliers who have made a transition to alternative open housing."

The gestation stall model was adopted by the hog industry in the 1960s and was viewed as a way to protect pregnant sows from and to ensure that each sow had full access to feed. Gestation stalls have come under criticism by animal activist groups, who have voiced their concerns about how they limit a sows’ movement.

To-date there have been nine U.S. states along with the EU who have passed laws banning gestation crates.