Billionaire investor and activist Carl Icahn blasted McDonald's for continuing its use of cruel gestation grates for pregnant pigs, despite previous promises to phase them out by 2022.
Icahn, 86, penned an eight-page letter to McDonald's shareholders, which he released on Thursday, claiming fast-food giant failed to follow through on a ten-year old commitment to end the use of the crates, which keep pregnant pigs in cramped spaces.
The company first agreed to do away with the practice back in 2012 amidst widespread criticism over the use of such inhumane devices. But Icahn - a shareholder - says the firm has fallen short, and now hopes to embarrass it into action.
'This grotesque mistreatment of animals – and the Company's inability to make significant progress on promises made to multiple stakeholders in 2012 – clearly stem from dysfunction and indifference in McDonald's' boardroom,' wrote Icahn, who owns 200 shares of the company.
'I believe McDonald's' customers want food that is sourced ethically, responsibly and humanely. Gestation crates are none of those.'
Advocates say the crates stop sows fighting one another while pregnant, and keep them safe. But opponents say they are deeply inhumane, stop pigs from even turning around, and further distress them by preventing them from being able to see their piglets.
McDonald's blasted the letter in its own statement, writing that the definition of 'crate free' is overly specific and would create unmanageable supply chain issues for the fast-food giant.
'The definition of "crate-free," conjured up by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), is so obscure that it represents an extremely niche market comprising less than 0.1% of U.S. pork production. This presents a challenge of supply,' the company wrote.
'What Mr. Icahn is demanding from McDonald's and other companies is completely unfeasible. Based on current estimates, McDonald's would require at least 300-400 times the animals housed today in "crate-free" systems to keep our supply chain running. It also presents a cost challenge. McDonald's today pays a premium to purchase group-housed pork in accordance with our 2012 commitment.'
Gestation crates, pictured, which have been used by McDonald's despite the company's decades-long vow to end the practice this year
Billionaire investor and activist Carl Icahn, pictured, is worth an estimated $16.5 billion
Icahn, a staunch proponent of animal-welfare, has remained one of the more vocal critics. The former stockbroker - worth an estimated $16.4 billion - threatened to kick off a shareholder fight over the practice in February when he nominated two people for election to the McDonald's board of directors.
'They are patting themselves on the back, while condoning cruelty – apparently, blind to the writing on the wall,' Icahn wrote.
'I believe the obscene cruelty inflicted on these animals through confinement is completely needless, reprehensible and misaligned with what Americans expect from our country's No. 1 fast-food chain.'
Icahn also criticized a 'large number of Wall Street firms and their bankers and lawyers,' 'Big Meat,' and the meat industry's 'connected lobby,' calling out their 'hollow' environmental and social efforts.
But McDonalds pointed out the 'hypocrisy' of Icahn's statements, given his ownership stake in another pork producer they claimed did not abide by his favored 'crate-free' rules.
'In addition to the financial burden this would place on customers, Mr. Icahn has also failed to address the inherent hypocrisy of his campaign,' McDonald's said.
'Mr. Icahn is the majority owner of Viskase, a company that produces and supplies packaging for the pork and poultry industry. Viskase has no public commitments similar to those McDonald's championed in 2012 and does not limit its business to meat producers who raise their animals in the "crate-free" housing systems espoused by HSUS. '
McDonald's first agreed to do away with the practice back in 2012 amidst widespread criticism over the use of such inhumane devices
Icahn's letter added that McDonald's is 'misleading customers, employees, and shareholders' after promising they would 'source 85 to 90 percent' of its US pork 'from sows not housed in gestation crates during pregnancy.'
'But that assertion is a cynical fabrication intended to fool us into believing this egregious form of animal abuse
