Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 2/27/19


The 2018 Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) Report concluded that farm animal welfare leadership and improved management practices are starting to become institutionalized, with more than half of the world’s largest food companies focusing efforts to ensure that farm animal welfare is effectively managed.

The BBFAW measures farm animal welfare management, policy commitment, performance and disclosure in food companies. Since its inception in 2012, investors, companies, NGOs and other stakeholders have used it to understand corporate practice and performance on farm animal welfare.

In the 2018 survey of the companies covered by the Benchmark, 73 percent of the food companies that responded stated they were paying more attention to farm animal welfare than in previous years. They reported taking a variety of actions such as:
• Using outcome measures to drive and incent continual improvement in their farm animal welfare performance.
• Taking action on specific farm animal welfare issues, with many acting on close-confinement, castration and slaughter practices.
• Publishing formal policies on farm animal welfare and working with suppliers to develop and implement these policies and commitments.
• Providing internal training on farm animal welfare and raising awareness of farm animal welfare across their business.
• Extending the scope of their farm animal welfare efforts to encompass more products, more species and animal derivatives.
• Appointing dedicated farm animal welfare managers and other specialist staff.
• Strengthening their reporting and their customer engagement on farm animal welfare.
• Increasing their sales of higher welfare products

The survey included 52 retailers and wholesalers, 63 producers and manufacturers, and 35 restaurants and bars. By location, 69 companies were from Europe, 52 from North America and the balance from a mix of countries including Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, New Zealand and Thailand.

It ranks them across six tiers:
• Tier 1: The company has taken a leadership position on farm animal welfare
• Tier 2: The company has made farm animal welfare an integral part of its business strategy.
• Tier 3: The company has an established approach to a farm animal welfare but has more work to do to ensure it is effectively implemented.
• Tier 4: The company is making progress on implementing its policies and commitments on farm animal welfare.
• Tier 5: The company has identified farm animal welfare as a business issue but provides limited evidence that it is managing the issue effectively.
• Tier 6: The company provides limited if any evidence that it recognizes farm animal welfare as a business issue.

How meat processors faired
Here are the rankings of food producers and processors:
Tier 1: Cranswick, Noble Foods
Tier 2: Cargill, Perdue Farms, Groupe Danone, Unilever, Vion Food Group
Tier 3: Tyson Foods, Hormel Foods, JBS, Danish Crown, 2 Sisters Food Group, Arla Foods, Barilla Group, BRF,  FrieslandCampina, Hilton Food Group, Kraft Heinz, Marfrig Alimentos, Nestlé, Premier Foods
Tier 4: OSI Group, Maple Leaf Foods, Smithfield parent WH Group, Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF), Ferrero, Fonterra, Gruppo Veronesi, LDC,   Mondelez, Plukon Food Group, Saputo, Tönnies Group
Tier 5: Seaboard Foods, Sanderson Farms, ConAgra Brands , Agro Super, Associated British Foods, Campbell Soup, Cooperativa Centrale Aurora Alimentos, Cooperl Arc Atlantique, Dean Foods, General Mills, Groupe Lactalis, Hershey Co, Kerry Group, Marine Harvest, Terrena Group
Tier 6: US Foods, Nippon Meat Packers and Industrias Bachoco, Bimbo, China Yurun Group, Chuying Agro-Pastoral Group, Cooke Seafood, Guangdong Wens Foodstuff Group, Henan Zhongpin, Mars, Maruha Nichiro Group, Meiji Holdings, Minerva Foods, Müller Group, New Hope/Liuhe Group

The report also noted companies that had moved up in their ranking since the benchmark began in 2012. For example, Cargill and Cranswick have each moved up three tiers, while Danish Crown, Marfrig and Tyson Foods have each moved up one tier.

While some companies have been rated each year since 2012, there were 43 companies added to the survey this past year, including Maple Leaf, Minerva, Nippon Meat Packers, Seaboard Foods and US Foods.

 For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.