SUBMISSION FROM THE FARM ANIMAL WELFARE COUNCIL (FAWC) TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS EFRA COMMITTEE FOOD INFORMATION INQUIRY 20 April 2004

1. The terms of reference of the enquiry are not explicit in recognising that the animal welfare standards associated with livestock products are an integral component of the food information that consumers may seek (it is not clear whether the example of ‘battery or free range’ given in relation to information on the means of production indicates a specific interest in animal welfare considerations, or simply acknowledges that consumers may be aware of the distinctly different production systems for some animal products). However, issues of animal welfare do clearly fall under the heading of ‘ethical considerations’, and so their inclusion is taken to be a topic of concern to the Committee’s enquiry.

2. The UK is now largely a food-secure society where food purchases are no longer the dominant element in the average household’s expenditures; furthermore, much of that food expenditure is directed towards the value-added element rather than the core physical ‘food’ element of purchases. In these circumstances consumer interest turns increasingly towards the qualitative aspects of the commodities bought. Consumers begin to perceive the farm level conditions faced by food animals as a relevant characteristic of the final products they yield – as witness the designation of ‘free range’ chicken, ‘barn’ eggs, ‘grass–fed’ beef, etc. Though understanding of practical farming processes may not be high, nevertheless consumers are increasingly interested to know of the provenance of the food they eat. In this respect the standards of welfare under which farm animals are produced are an integral element in the acceptability of livestock products. In addition to the farm level production unit, livestock are subject to additional processes which have significant welfare impact throughout the production chain (transport, marketing, slaughter, etc.). When considering welfare characteristics of livestock products, whether from the UK or overseas, it is important to look at the entire lifetime of processes to which the animals are exposed.

3. Farm animal welfare can be safe-guarded as long as minimum acceptable welfare standards are set, adequately monitored and rigorously enforced, and information confirming this is sufficiently available to satisfy the purchaser’s wish to know. Absolute compliance with legislation and regulations relating to farm animal welfare (e.g. 1911 Act; Agriculture [Miscellaneous Provisions] Act 1968, Welfare of Farmed Animals Regulations) is a fundamental public requirement and must be enforced. However, since the Welfare Codes of Recommendations for Farmed Livestock are designed to reflect the standards considered acceptable to a welfare conscious and civilised society, there is a public expectation that the provisions within the Codes are, in practice, the minimum standards to which the livestock industry should adhere.

4. In addition to this, an increasing sector of the public wishes to have the choice to consume products deriving from systems with enhanced animal welfare standards. Claims made about such products must be transparent, honest, auditable and enforced. Effective labelling, with full traceability linked to quality assurance schemes, will be an essential for these developments in demand to take place.

5. Those addressing the welfare of farm animals must consider the process as a whole, from the place(s) of birth and rearing, through transport, marketing and slaughter. The sum of welfare conditions to which each animal is exposed throughout its life is an explicit and distinctive element of that animal and is thus a quality characteristic of its provenance as food.

6. An effective labelling system should be developed to identify food produced in compliance with the Welfare Codes (and the absence of such labelling on some imported goods may be taken to indicate non-compliance with these codes or their equivalent), and to additionally recognise food produced to enhanced welfare standards, in an honest, transparent and reliable way.

7. FAWC is currently considering the issue of how and to what extent information on welfare standards can be conveyed to the interested consumer – perhaps by a (necessarily simple) label attached to a product, along with additional supporting/explanatory information if required. That problem is but one dimension of the overall question of conveying information about food products - whether fresh, processed, in retail food stores or in catering establishments – appropriate to the consumers’ needs to enable rational purchasing decisions.

8. Even in relation to the animal welfare dimension, however, the information issues are complex. There is a diversity of farm level production systems and conditions for each of the food-producing animal species, the welfare outcomes are not easily reflected simply by indicating the production system, and consumers are not necessarily sufficiently knowledgeable about livestock agriculture to be able to determine whether products meet their welfare preferences. In addition it is not only the images of the farm-level processes that contain the information about welfare. Animals are transported from one location to another, move through markets, and are finally subjected to slaughter – all of which contribute to the overall welfare status that animals experience and which affect consumer concerns about the products they consume. For example, there is a particular issue relating to the labelling of meat from animals intended for the Kosher or Halal markets (and which are therefore slaughtered without pre-stunning), but which finds its way unidentified onto the ordinary meat market instead.

9. FAWC will be considering these and other aspects of the food labelling question in its own specific enquiry over the coming months.

Dr Judy MacArthur Clark
FAWC Chairwoman

Contact point:

Richard Aram
FAWC Secretariat
Area 511, 1A Page Street,
LONDON, SW1P 4PQ
Tel. 0207 904 6532
Fax. 0207 904 6993