SEC to Force Wendy’s Shareholder Vote on Treatment of Pigs

The Securities and Exchange Commission directed Wendy’s Co. to include a shareholder proposal in its proxy materials that could force the company to disclose the use of gestation crates in its pork supply chain.

If passed, the proposal, from the Humane Society of the U.S., would require the burger chain to disclose whether its supply chain uses the stalls to house pregnant sows. The Dublin, Ohio-based company objected to including the proposal.

But in a letter to both parties dated March 16, the SEC sided with the animal-welfare group. “We are unable to concur in your view that the ...