Assurance schemes need right retailer packaging

Assurance schemes in the UK are “a complicated mix of claims and controls” about animal welfare, according to David Main of Bristol University.


“I take the view that this reflects a lot of innovation, positive activity and actually competition between standards,” said Mr Main at a recent Animal Welfare Foundation discussion forum.


But he said that the wide range of standards, certification and categories on offer often confused consumers, pointing to the different production standards, tiers and messages associated with egg. Despite this, he believed that society “broadly had an interest” in animal welfare.


The solution was getting retailer packaging right, said Mr Main. “Most consumers don’t want to go to their supermarket shelves and find themselves in a moral dilemma.”


Instead “choice editing” was a pervading trend in supermarkets and restaurants, presenting only one option that had a generally accepted high standard of production.


“McDonald’s has had free-range eggs for a long time, recently it has rolled out Freedom Food pork, and it seems it could go Freedom Food with its chicken,” said Mr Main.


He added that this was reflected in assurance schemes across Europe becoming more standardised, something that Mr Main welcomed.


A second trend in assurance schemes was a move to include more “outcome based” requirements, not only checking that inputs and standards were correct, but that results, such as feather loss, could be practically adjusted.


“A production system itself does not necessarily guarantee an outcome.”


An example was Assurewel, a scheme to create measurable, outcome-based additions to assurance schemes, which he said gave vets an opportunity to work with farmers to advise on potential welfare concerns, as well as provide practical solutions.


“The assessment is not the end goal,” said Mr Main, “it’s to promote welfare improvement.”


He added that these changes had been driven “because the industry want to tackle these issues in a very positive way”.


“[There has been] no direct involvement from government on these issues, this has happened because industry wants to sort it.”


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