Eligibility and Criteria

You will need to be a well-known or notable food company that can satisfy the following criteria.

Companies can receive the award in one of two categories:

Current Policy: awarded to companies that already meet the award criteria.
In Transition: awarded to companies that have made a public commitment and are working towards meeting the criteria within five years.

Current policy or five-year commitment to achieve:

Lower stocking density: Maximum stocking density defined by the “allometric equation” defining the minimum space needed for an active turkey according to its live weight – e.g. 36kg/m² for a 15kg bird or 29kg/m² for a 8kg bird
No heavy breeds: Only medium to slow-growing strains permitted
Active leg health plan: Active monitoring of foot, hip and leg health with an established improvement plan
Provision of environmental enrichment: Including perching surfaces, pecking substrates and natural light
Slaughter: Controlled atmosphere system or effective electrical stunning system with no live inversion

Award categories

You can apply for a Turkey Higher Welfare Award under the following categories:

Fresh turkey
Frozen turkey
Further processed and ingredient turkey

Why apply?

Winning an award enables you to:

Demonstrate leadership on farm animal welfare and responsible sourcing.
Show how your policies and commitments align with your company's values and sustainability goals.
Strengthen supply chain transparency and traceability, helping to manage business and reputational risk.
Build trust and confidence among customers, investors and other stakeholders.
Gain recognition for your achievements from a globally respected farm animal welfare organisation.
Respond to growing consumer demand for food produced to higher welfare standards.

Support on your journey
We can help you identify welfare improvements through our expert technical advice and support, through our case studies which share best practice and we have a bank of resources to help you make the case for choosing higher welfare systems.

How to apply

Companies can apply via their engagement with the Food Business team and on completion of an application form signed at Director level.

Where an application is made on a commitment basis, companies are required to provide annual progress reports against their commitment. Compassion will maintain regular contact with award winners throughout the commitment period to monitor progress, offer ongoing support, and help ensure commitments are met within the agreed timeframe.

Ready to apply? Contact us today to start the conversation.

Higher Welfare Award - Turkeys