Supermarkets play a pivotal role in shaping farm animal welfare standards. With their vast buying power, influence over supply chains, and ability to guide consumer choices, retailers are uniquely positioned to lead the shift toward more ethical and sustainable food systems.

We work closely with major UK retailers to raise welfare standards across the food industry. To support this mission, we’ve developed a suite of Retailer Policy tools  that help the food industry identify and address key welfare issues in their supply chains. These tools include:

Retailer Welfare Policy Overviews
Covering laying hens, broiler chickens, and pigs—highlighting where each retailer stands on core welfare commitments.
Animal welfare ‘Spotlights’
Focused insights into specific welfare areas, including:
- UK Retailer Policies on Indoor-Reared Chicken
  Assessing alignment with the Better Chicken Commitment.
- UK Retailer Policies on Salmon Welfare
  Evaluating progress and gaps in fish welfare standards.

These resources are designed to inform, inspire, and hold retailers accountable—ensuring that animal welfare remains a priority in every aisle.

Retailer Policies on farm animal welfare

Supermarket retailers are vital to improving farm animal welfare in the food supply chain. The influence they have over the welfare standards adopted by food producers is enormous due to their buying power, the number of shoppers they attract, and their ability to promote one product over another.

Most of our food purchases takes place in supermarkets, granting retailers significant influence over the welfare standards adopted with their supply and their ability to advocate for more sustainable food choices, owing to their enormous buying power.

Compassion works with major retailers across Europe and, progressively, with prominent stakeholders in other regions, to elevate welfare standards and to secure commitments to help reduce the reliance on animal sourced foods, and transition towards more regenerative farming practices. 

Our Retailer policy tools are designed to help the food industry address some of the key welfare issues in their supply chains.

We have an overview of Retailer Welfare Policies for Laying Hens, Broiler Chickens and Pigs, as well as more focussed ‘Spotlights’ on how retailer are fairing on the following:

Spotlight – UK Retailer Policies on Indoor reared chicken and how retailers are aligned with the Better Chicken Commitment
Spotlight – UK Retailer Policies on salmon welfare