American restaurant chain, First Watch, is known for its seasonal breakfast, brunch, and lunch items and claims to use "exceptional ingredients." But one major ingredient on their menu is produced with extreme suffering under concerning food safety conditions.

Unlike several food businesses, First Watch refuses to adopt an animal welfare policy for the pigs it uses in its supply chain. This means, pregnant mother pigs are forced to live inside tiny cages while lying in their own feces.

Gestation crates are metal cages, only slightly larger than a pig’s own body, that confine pigs for their entire pregnancies. In these cages, the mother pig cannot even turn around. Without any form of stimulation, she can develop abnormal behaviors to deal with the stress, like biting the bars or the air. After multiple pregnancies, these pigs often become silent and immobile, showing clear signs of depression and hopelessness. Donald Broom, a professor emeritus at Cambridge University, has described this practice as "one of the most extreme examples of cruelty to an animal," noting that it continues throughout much of the pig's life and is far worse than severe physical abuse or most laboratory experiments.

Far from a “standard industry practice,” these crates are illegal in most developed economies and restricted or banned in 11 U.S. states, and many U.S. food businesses, such as McDonald’s, Chipotle, Wendy’s, Burger King, Bloomin’ Brands, Panera Bread, Conagra, Kroger, Costco, Compass Group, Aramark, and Sodexo have phased them out of their supply chains.

It is irresponsible that First Watch allows this extreme abuse to happen each and every day. Ask First Watch leadership to take animal welfare and food safety seriously and commit to ending this cruelty!