Foodservice companies continue to lag behind other food businesses in their animal welfare commitments, despite Greggs and McDonald’s winning praise for their policies.
Retailers dominated the highest tier of the global Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) report, which provides an annual review of how 99 of the world’s leading food companies are managing risks and opportunities associated with farm animal welfare.
Greggs joined McDonald’s in tier two having scored highly for its approach to employee training around welfare, while, along with Mitchells & Butlers, the bakery chain also won praise for its position on the avoidance of genetically modified or cloned animals.
There was less positive news for Compass, Elior and Whitbread, however, who were among five companies to fall a tier.
The report, which is compiled in collaboration with Compassion in World Farming, World Animal Protection and investment firm, Coller Capital, revealed that companies are paying increased attention to farm animal welfare within their supply chains with 26 companies moving up at least one tier since 2015; however BBFAW executive director, Nicky Amos said more needed to be done.
“Despite this progress, 42 of the 99 companies (including Restaurant Brands International, Domino’s Pizza Group Plc and Starbucks Corporation) appear in tiers five and six, demonstrating there is still much work to be done to even get farm animal welfare on the business agenda of many large global food companies.”
A full analysis of the findings will be in February’s Footprint magazine
