More and more food companies are starting to report on animal welfare as part of their corporate social responsibility and sustainability programmes.

Indeed the world’s biggest retailer, Walmart, recently adopted their first animal welfare policy, closely followed by Compass Group in the USA, the world’s largest food service company, who just released an updated policy which notably addresses broiler welfare issues.

When food giants like Walmart and Compass Group make commitments to higher animal welfare, and publicise their policies, they pave the way for other companies to follow suit.

A strong corporate policy on farm animal welfare should outline a list of objectives for overarching farm animal welfare improvements such as ending the use of cages and reducing antibiotic use, as well as a set of welfare commitments across the different species in your supply chain.

The policy should also be clear on who holds responsibility for farm animal welfare within your organisation and include a timeframe of when your farm animal welfare commitments are to be achieved. Some examples are as follows:

If you are at the start of your journey or are looking to strengthen your current policies on farm animal welfare, these are the key farm animal welfare issues you need to address.

If you would like help on how to develop and publicise your corporate policy on farm animal welfare please get in touch with the Food Business team and we’ll be happy to provide you with best practice guidance.

Developing policies on farm animal welfare