Compassion in World Farming: New Food Labels
Compassion in World Farming propose a new six-tier food labelling system, so consumers can easily know how each animal was raised:
- Intensive indoors – animals raised to minimum legal requirements (barren conditions, never going outside and often suffering overcrowding and mutilations).
- Improved indoors – animals kept indoors with slightly more room and better bedding, but still a sterile environment and not able to exhibit natural behaviours.
- Partially outdoors – animals live outdoors some of the time, but not enough to be certified free-range. Cows have access to grazing which helps to reduce lameness and mastitis
- Free-range – animals have constant access to outdoors (grass pasture for grazing animals) or rooting/scratching areas for hens to dust-bathe (also roosts for chickens and straw bedding for pigs).
- Organic – like free-range but more space (and less numbers), only slow-grown breeds and antibiotics are only allowed to be used for veterinary purposes.
- Pasture-fed – the same as above, but herbivore animals are fed on grass and vegetation, not cheaper grain.
Many farms and food brands are not happy about such labels, but CIWF are concerned more with animal welfare.
It has previously called out turkey and cream cheese brands for misleading labelling, showing images of ‘galloping cows’ and ‘outdoor pigs’ when in truth both were intensively-farmed.
Most eggs are not certified free-range (cage-free just gives a tiny bit more space, and male chicks are still ground up alive at birth, of no financial value – then sold to the pet food industry as reptile food).
Food Labels in England are a Mess
Food labels are a mess in England, with many people not even knowing the difference between free-range eggs and barn eggs, and not knowing how to tell if meat or fish is ‘sustainable’ or from factory farms.
Obviously if you eat plants, you are not eating animals. But the reality is that most people do eat animals at present, so clearer food labels would help.
Even if you eat meat, you likely don’t agree with factory farms, but most meat sold is from intensively-farmed animals, showing that labels are confusing.
In a nutshell, the only animal foods with good welfare (while they are alive) are certified free-range or organic or both (even better). And humane slaughter is not always the case, even if labelled so.
Recently, many people have called on RSPCA to postpone its RSPCA-Assured label due to welfare concerns. Red Tractor and The Lion Mark have a few add-ons for welfare (like banning pig castration and ‘enriched cages’ but neither offer much else.
RSPCA is a wonderful organisation that we are fortunate to have. There are not many countries where you can call up a charity at any time to report any animal abuse you see or suspect, and have trained officers turn up to help.
But at end of September 2024, Dr Brian May (a qualified scientist as well as Queen guitarist) and well-known campaigner against the badger cull (which he can argue on scientific grounds), resigned as vice-president of the RSPCA, something understood in an open letter by Chris Packham and Caroline Lucas (the former has also called for a pause on the scheme, pending further investigation).
Brian writes that he was heartbroken at having to make this decision. But felt he had no choice as not enough was being done (urgently) to address allegations from poor hygiene and overcrowding to sometimes physical abuse of livestock by farm workers.
