FIND MY CARL'S JRANIMAL WELFARE
At CKE Restaurants, animal health and well-being is a top priority, reflecting our commitment to our stakeholders, franchisees, investors, and most importantly, our guests. We believe in developing our animal welfare policies based on the latest scientific understanding, robust industry regulations, and expert advice from both industry leaders and our valued suppliers. Our expectation is that all our suppliers meet or exceed governmental regulations and established industry standards, ensuring responsible and humane practices throughout our supply chain.
We are committed to continuously improving our animal welfare standards and the way we source food across all our brands and markets.
Beef
Our commitment to responsible beef sourcing is unwavering. All facilities handling live animals for our beef supply are required to adhere to stringent good animal husbandry practices and operate in full compliance with Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) directives or the global equivalent. FSIS, as the public health agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, plays a crucial role in ensuring that the nation's commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and accurately labeled and packaged.
Furthermore, all our beef suppliers must provide an annual Animal Welfare Audit. These audits are performed by auditors certified by the Professional Animal Auditing Certification Organization (PAACO), an organization dedicated to promoting the humane treatment of animals, ensuring independent verification of our high standards.
Pork
CKE Restaurants has been on a journey to transition our pork supply toward group housing for pregnant sows, a commitment we began in 2016. We have consistently worked directly with our pork suppliers, making significant progress in increasing the percentage of sows sourced from group housing environments. Today, we are pleased to report that we are exceeding an average of 80% of sows sourced from group housing. We continue to collaborate closely with animal welfare experts and farmers to meet our full commitments based on the evolving supply and availability of humanely raised pork.
Similar to our beef sourcing, all facilities handling live animals for our pork supply must adhere to good animal husbandry practices, operate in accordance with FSIS directives, and provide an annual Animal Welfare Audit performed by a PAACO-certified auditor.
Poultry
CKE Restaurants continues its efforts to reduce antibiotic use in our poultry supply. We are proud to offer NAIHM (No Antibiotics Important to Human Medicine per FDA) chicken tenderloins by partnering with suppliers who go above and beyond current government regulations. This reflects our dedication to responsible sourcing and providing high-quality, responsibly raised poultry products.
Facilities that handle live poultry for our supply chain are mandated to follow the FSIS Poultry Products Inspection Act and annually provide Animal Welfare Audits performed by a PAACO-certified auditor, ensuring adherence to the highest standards of animal care.
Eggs
We are pleased to report that Carl's Jr. has successfully transitioned to 100% cage-free eggs across all domestic restaurants. This achievement reflects our commitment to responsible sourcing and our focus on meeting consumer preferences.
The past few years have presented unprecedented challenges to the egg industry, most notably the widespread impact of avian influenza. This has significantly affected the supply chain, impacting the availability and consistency of cage-free egg sources across the industry. As a result of these ongoing supply chain disruptions, we will be extending our completion date for full global transition beyond the end of 2025.
Despite these industry-wide challenges, we want to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to sourcing cage-free eggs. We will continue to work closely with our suppliers and industry partners to navigate the current environment and steadily increase our cage-free egg supply. We will provide updates on our progress once the avian influenza-impacted supply chain stabilizes and allows for more consistent advancements.
All facilities that provide cage-free egg products for US restaurants must comply with standards and practices for laying hens in providing certification from the American Humane Certified Program, the Certified Humane Program, or the United Egg Producers Certified Program. All facilities that provide egg products (excluding cage-free) must demonstrate compliance with U.S. generally accepted animal welfare guidelines or the equivalent standards internationally.
Dairy
Our dairy sourcing practices emphasize the health and well-being of the animals. All facilities that handle live animals for our dairy supply must comply with USDA Regulations or the global equivalent and adhere to good animal husbandry practices. Additionally, they must participate in the National Dairy FARM Program, which is a comprehensive on-farm animal well-being program. This program includes an annual third-party verification system that demonstrates a clear commitment to producing safe, wholesome, and nutritious dairy products, while ensuring that the animals receive the highest level of care.
*Our Animal Health and Well-being commitments are continuously monitored and may be subject to the availability of supply. Unforeseen and catastrophic events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Avian Influenza outbreaks, and other global factors, can impact supply chains. We are committed to transparency and will continue to work with our partners to mitigate these challenges while upholding our animal welfare standards.
