Three quarters of consumers rank animal welfare concerns as the top issue which makes a company ethical but is the foodservice industry doing enough to ensure animal welfare, and if so, are we communicating it to customers?
The conclusion from Tuesday’s lively, informative and thought-provoking Footprint Forum, Animal Welfare – does it matter to foodservice? held at TUCO’s Winter Conference, was that while great strides had been made in the last 20-30 years, there is no cause for complacency and standards can still be improved.
David Nuttall, catering manager at Harper Adams University, argued that one of the key challenges can be as simple as getting the message to customers that the operator is doing the right thing ethically, and that standards can still be improved.
Other speakers and panellists included:
David Clark – CEO, Red Tractor
Julia Wrathall – Science and Head of Farm Animals, RSPCA
Tony Goodger – Head of Operations, NCB Foodservice
Dan Crossley – Executive Director, Food Ethics Council
Charles Bourns – NFU Board Member
Full Forum report coming in the December issue of Footprint magazine.
