The largest meat-producing company in the world, Brazilian-based JBS has announced that it will eliminate gestation crates from all of its facilities by 2016, according to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Confining pregnant pigs to enclosures that are slightly larger than their bodies, gestation crates result in severe physical or mental health problems for the sows. Six months ago, BRF—Brazil’s largest pork producer—agreed to phase out gestation crates after being encouraged to do so by the the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food Supply. JBS now joins a list of more than 60 multi-national food companies that have agreed to eradicate gestation crates from their suppliers.

Photo courtesy of Farm Sanctuary