The world’s leading food companies are lagging behind

The world’s leading food companies are lagging behind consumers on farm animal welfare issues

The Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) Report, now in its fourth year, reviews 90 global food companies in a bid to encourage higher farm animal welfare standards and disclosure across the food industry.

For the first time ever, the 2015 BBFAW report has benchmarked a New Zealand based multinational, with the inclusion of - Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited.

Despite the overall progress made since the first published report in 2012, 40% of companies, including Burger King, Domino’s Pizza Group (UK) and Starbucks provide little or no information on their business operation for farm animal welfare – raising concerns about these companies’ basic welfare standards for animals in their supply chains.

The report in collaboration with World Animal Protection, Compassion in World Farming and investment firm, Coller Capital has been designed to encourage higher farm animal welfare standards across the food industry, covering 90 global food businesses, including major food retailers and wholesalers, restaurants and bars, and food producers.

World Animal Protection actively works with food companies to improve their standards and practices in farm animal welfare. BRF is one such company – they are one of the world’s largest food companies and have made a commitment to improve animal welfare by eliminating the use of cages for the 365,000 sows in its supply chain by 2026. This will allow the animals much more freedom to express normal behaviours. This positive change for animals has certainly contributed to BRF’s improved assessment in the 2015 Benchmark.

Steve McIvor, acting CEO of World Animal Protection said, "Farm animal welfare is riding high on the consumer agenda and we expect far higher standards for animals from the world’s leading food companies.

“With 70 billion animals farmed for food annually, poor animal welfare in industrial farming cannot be ignored. A better life for these animals relies upon global, large-scale changes across the industry.”

Despite the 40% that have published little or no evidence of farm animal welfare being on their current business agenda, it is encouraging to see improvements from other leading food companies:

• The proportion of companies with a published farm animal welfare policy has increased from 46% in 2012 to 69% in 2015
• The proportion of companies that have published targets for farm animal welfare has increased from 26% in 2012 to 54% in 2015.

Companies currently forging ahead include Marks & Spencer, Coop Group (Switzerland) and Noble Foods (which climbs one place from Tier 2). The companies in Tier 2 that also demonstrate leadership on farm animal welfare practice and reporting are The Co-operative Food (UK), J Sainsbury, Unilever, Cranswick, McDonald’s and Migros, with Marfrig joining the Tier for the first time, climbing one place from Tier 3.

Reflecting on these findings, BBFAW Executive Director, Nicky Amos, said, “The results show that it is realistic for companies across the world to aspire to and achieve high scores in the Benchmark and to recognise the responsibility they hold for the welfare of animals in their supply chains.”

The report highlights the growing influence of global investment companies on farm animal welfare and in particular cites the world’s first investor collaboration on farm animal welfare - convened by BBFAW - which now has 18 investors representing over one trillion pounds in assets under management.

Rory Sullivan, BBFAW expert advisor said, “For the first time we are seeing global investors actively engage with companies to encourage them to improve their practices and reporting on farm animal welfare. The annual Benchmark provides a strong incentive for companies to improve their disclosure and account for their performance. As we build investor awareness and understanding of farm animal welfare, we expect to see investor interest and, critically, action, increase over time.”

ENDS

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