From crate to plate: Know where Bon Appétit's food comes from

By Rose Hoonan, Staff Writer -- hoonan15@up.edu

Being stuck in a cage for four years - the amount of time it takes most UP students to complete college - is a reality for many pigs stuck in gestation crates in farms across America. The crates confine female pigs for most of their adult lives, and as they grow larger, they must sleep on their chests, unable to turn, until they are slaughtered.

However, under new policy, UP's food service provider, Bon Appétit Management Company, which operates over 400 eateries in 31 states, will not serve meat from animals who have been treated as such.

"Bon Appétit is the leading food service company in terms of being socially responsible," Josh Balk, the director of corporate policy for the Humane Society of the United States, said. "Their core belief is to protect animals from abuse and their policies reflect that."

The welfare policy requires all Bon Appétit branches to serve food only from farms that promote socially responsible practices. This includes using eggs from cage-free hens, serving pork produced without gestation crate confinement systems and eliminating livers of force-fed ducks and veal from calves from its menus.

The new welfare policy reforms will be phased in by 2015 for all Bon Appétit eateries across the nation.

"These changes can't happen overnight," Balk said. "Bon Appétit must work with suppliers to change, and that takes time."

However, Bon Appétit at the University of Portland has been enforcing the practices reflected in this policy for over a year, according to UP Bon Appétit General Manager Kirk Mustain.

"The Northwest in general has already implemented these policies because we have lots of local growers that follow these policies, and that made it easier to change," Mustain said. "We wanted to show we could do it before it was implemented nationally."

Even with the change in welfare policies, UP's Bon Appétit has managed to maintain the same menu options and keep prices largely the same, Mustain said.

"We didn't change what we produce, we changed how we produced it," Mustain said. "We made these changes because it's about doing the right thing, and being a leader. It's about social justice more than anything else."

Bon Appétit's welfare policies satisfy frequent on-campus eaters like freshman Marie Lucero.

"(These policies) are ones I would have if I were living off campus and making my own food," Lucero said. "I'm glad I don't have to feel like I'm compromising my beliefs regarding food just because I'm living on campus and dependent on the school for the majority of what I eat."

Others see the policy as an aspect that strengthens the company's credibility.

"I think it's important that they have policies like this in place so that the food they serve is obtained through ethical business practices," freshman Will Schlotfeldt said. "It shows that they're concerned with where the food they serves comes from."

With Bon Appétit's implementation of its new welfare policy, Balk hopes other food service companies will follow the movement.

"Bon Appétit changing its policies should open the door for other food service companies to change," Balk said. "They are demonstrating that protecting animals is good for ethics and business."