Go Vegan, John Mackey

If you've ever encountered an animal rights activist, odds are they've told you to “Go vegan.” What does this phrase mean? We can readily determine from looking at how it is used that it advocates the behavior of refraining from using animals for food, clothing, entertainment, or other purposes, with emphasis usually being on diet. Veganism—meaning, according to some definitions, refraining from the consumption of animal products or other animal use—has been referred to as the “moral baseline of the animal rights movement," the least we can do if we subscribe to the philosophy that exploiting animals or killing them unnecessarily is wrong.

To be sure, no one would “go vegan” other than diet-wise if they did not believe in that philosophy, and veganism is generally defined as both philosophical opposition to animal exploitation and a lifestyle consistent with that philosophy. But the point remains that going vegan and, according to some usages, veganism, is a behavior involving personally avoiding participation in animal exploitation, and that if someone does at least that, they have minimally discharged their moral obligations to animals even if they do not actively promote animal liberation. Given the limitations on people's free time and their possible devotion to other time-consuming pursuits, this seems like a reasonable standard. But is it?

Enter John Mackey. Mackey is the co-founder and current co-CEO of Whole Foods, which has sold meat since its inception. With its over $15 billion in sales, it is one of the largest retailers of meat and other animal products in the United States. Selling the products of exploitation and slaughter has helped make Mackey, whose net worth is estimated at $100 million, an extraordinarily wealthy man. Yet, ironically, he is also a self-described ethical vegan. Mackey went vegan in 2003 when, following animal rights activists' protests at a Whole Foods shareholders' meeting over cruel treatment of ducks and extensive conversations with one of the protesters, he read Animal Liberation and other books about animal rights.

But while his response on a personal level to what he learned was to take up a vegan lifestyle and promote it to friends and in occasional public appearances, as a businessman his response was to promote welfare standards for the animals his company was exploiting and killing. At an animal rights conference where he spoke in 2005, he claimed that Whole Foods was going to set the "gold standard of standards" for animal agriculture. The result was collaboration among "farmers and ranchers, animal welfare advocacy organizations, scientists, and retailers" to develop a five-step animal welfare program and an organization called the Global Animal Partnership to oversee the regulation of supposedly humane farms raising animals for flesh, dairy or eggs. Mackey is also a founding member and current chairman of the board of Farm Forward, an organization focused on promoting "humane" animal products.

And promoting animal products is exactly what Whole Foods does. Whole Foods is a co-sponsor of Meatopia, a festival specifically intended to promote meat consumption. It also sponsors a “Best Butcher Contest.” Whole Foods' marketing tells us that their animals are “responsibly raised according to strict animal welfare standards." Customers are told that they will "enjoy meat from animals raised with respect" who are depicted roaming free on open pastures and enjoying natural lives. Whole Foods suppliers "put the animals first", Whole Foods informs us. Above the meat counter at every Whole Foods are large signs that say "A hearty helping of Animal Compassion with every order. Meat is labeled according to its 5-step rating system based on the Global Animal Partnership's standards. Customers can literally choose their level of cruelty when they buy meat. A Whole Foods store in Maine even offered to “humanely” electrocute lobsters for customers who were squeamish about boiling them alive at home. In the face of criticism stemming from a scandal about price gouging, high prices, and its decision to sell rabbit meat, Whole Foods launched a $20 million marketing campaign in 2014 with the slogan "Values Matter." "Know what kind of life your dinner lived", proclaims a poster of a woman holding a chicken. In short, a concerted effort has been made to convince customers that Whole Foods cares about the animals whose body parts wind up in its freezers and ensures they are treated humanely. John Mackey has participated fully in that effort, claiming that “We do not offer meat produced with low welfare standards” and that “Animals are raised with care and respect."

This is the Orwellianfairy tale that John Mackey and Whole Foods sell customers. So successful is this hype, remarked animal rights organization Direct Action Everywhere's co-founder Wayne Hsiung, that people who buy meat from Whole Foods "think they are doing something kind for animals. It's almost like they think they're donating to an animal shelter." The reality documented by numerous investigations is starkly different. A US Department of Agriculture investigation of a Whole Foods supplier revealed young rabbits deprived of water in filthy cages before being slaughtered for meat, with as many as 30 a day found dead before they could even be sent to slaughter. Direct Action Everywhere investigators found widespread disease and suffering and crowded, filthy conditions at a “Certified Humane” cage-free egg supplier. Last year, investigators from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) documented pigs crammed into crowded sheds on concrete floors.

Nowhere is the contrast between hype and reality more glaring than at Diestel Farms, one of Whole Foods' turkey suppliers. In a report entitled "A Deadly Feast: what you are not told about your Thanksgiving turkey," Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) investigators documented what appeared to be deliberate deception by Diestel and Whole Foods regarding the treatment of their turkeys. A Diestel Turkey Ranch promotional brochure prominently displayed at many Whole Foods meat counters claims that "Our birds live in harmony with the environment and we allow them to grow slowly and naturally with plenty of room to roam." Turkeys raised at Diestel's Sonora, CA ranch do indeed enjoy such conditions. Turkeys from this farm have received a 5+ rating, the highest in the Global Animal Partnership's rating system. However, investigators discovered, no turkeys raised at the Sonora farm were actually being sold at Whole Foods. Instead, the vast majority of Diestel turkeys come from facilities in nearby Jamestown in which thousands of birds are crammed together in dark, filthy, disease-ridden conditions. Investigators found it difficult to breathe in the ammonia-filled air, and saw many turkeys with open wounds, covered in feces, missing large patches of feathers, and/or with grossly inflamed or swollen crops. Records showed up to 7% of the birds dying from the horrific conditions within a single week.

While at first glance it seems shocking how little correspondence there is between what Mackey and Whole Foods claim and what actually happens, DxE's investigation found that Whole Foods puts minimal resources into enforcing the standards it claims to have. The Global Animal Partnership that oversees enforcement is 90-95% funded by Whole Foods even though it claims to be independent, and has a tiny staff paid less than $100,000 in total salary to supposedly oversee conditions for the 300 million animals Whole Foods suppliers are raising at any given time. In addition, GAP's former executive director, Anne Malleau, previously served as Whole Foods' Global Meat Coordinator. Investigators contend that these facts make clear that the whole enterprise is a marketing scheme rather than a genuine attempt to improve animals' welfare. "They have the thieves guarding the house from bandits," said DxE's lead investigator Wayne Hsiung. "The system is set up to deceive customers."

How can someone like John Mackey, who claims to be ethically opposed to the tremendous harm people do to animals, sleep at night given the colossal deception he and his company are pulling off? How is hoodwinking people into believing that farm animals are being treated humanely and buying their flesh and secretions from Whole Foods consistent with being a vegan? In a revealing response to writer and animal rights activist James McWilliams' open letter asking Whole Foods to stop selling meat, Mackey gives a litany of excuses for their continuing to do so. In addition to reiterating the claim that Whole Foods' animal welfare efforts are significantly bettering the lives of hundreds of millions of animals, he claims that if Whole Foods stopped selling meat its customers would simply buy it from other retailers who "have not invested millions of dollars and many years of hard work to ensure that animals are raised with care and respect, and slaughtered with a minimum amount of stress." In addition, he asserts that it is "our job" at Whole Foods to supply its majority of meat-eating customers with what they want—which, evidently, is overpriced meat and misleading claims about high standards of animal welfare. If they fail to do that "job," he claims, Whole Foods will go out of business. (Never mind that there are a growing number of successful vegan businesses.)

Mackey has also argued that even if he wanted to stop Whole Foods from selling animal products, Whole Foods is a public company and he does not have the power to do so. But even if he is right, that is not the point. He claims to be a vegan, and vegans philosophically oppose exploiting and killing animals. Yet, given numerous opportunities to address findings that Whole Foods' treatment of animals is wildly discrepant from its claims, he has thus far avoided the issue even while responding to other criticisms of Whole Foods. Worse still, he has actively promoted the myth that there is such a thing as humane meat and that Whole Foods is selling it, and he continues to do so. Even if he is 100% right that he cannot stop Whole Foods from selling animal products, that is no excuse whatsoever for helping them do it. He is a millionaire dozens of times over, has stated that he no longer has any desire to make more money for himself, and only takes $1 annually in salary from Whole Foods, so what's stopping him from at least speaking honestly about the ugly reality behind Whole Foods' marketing hype? What's stopping him from acknowledging that one cannot humanely kill animals who don't want to die? What's stopping him from acknowledging that exploiting animals for food is inherently inhumane? In other words, what's stopping him from taking the philosophy he says he believes in--veganism--seriously enough to express it in the context of talking about his own company's "products"? And if Whole Foods' owners and upper management are indeed uninterested in making a vegan shift, what is stopping him from starting a vegan grocery business? If Jan Bredack can start a vegan grocery chain in Europe, why can't John Mackey do it in the United States? It might not become a multibillion dollar behemoth like Whole Foods any time soon. But even in the unlikely event that it was an utter flop, wouldn't that be better than living a lie?