Foodservice wins praise for welfare commitments

The issue of farm animal welfare may have reached a significant tipping point after the number of foodservice businesses achieving a Compassion in World Farming Good Farm Animal Welfare Award doubled in the past year.

The awards recognise the work of leading food businesses to improve animal welfare standards and cover commitments such as using only cage-free eggs.

Compassion said the higher welfare policies and practices of the 41 main award winners are set to benefit over 85 million animals each year.

UK foodservice companies performed particularly strongly with half of the awards presented to the sector being made to UK businesses including Greene King, Mitchells & Butlers and McDonald’s UK.

“It has been wonderful to see an increase in foodservice businesses embracing animal welfare,” said Tracey Jones, director of food business at Compassion. “Foodservice is often a forgotten sector – when shopping, consumers want to know the provenance of their fresh meat, eggs and dairy products, as well as the type of production system used and likely welfare standards of the animals reared – but often forget to ask the same questions when out for meals or eating on the move.  Our winners in this sector demonstrate that a real step change in attitudes and approach towards farm animal welfare is taking place and is being done so successfully at a competitive price.”