From organic coffee and fruit juice to teething biscuits and burritos, Triodos Sustainability Research has discovered a number of smaller, specialised sustainability leaders in the food and restaurant industry. Food is part of our daily life and crucial to our health. However, the last century has seen a number of controversial developments in the food industry, such as genetic engineering, poor animal welfare standards and the extensive use of antibiotics. We are very pleased to find food companies that take a different route and share Triodos Bank’s values regarding food and agriculture, such as Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Hain Celestial and Wessanen.
Animal welfare in factory farming
14-12-2010 | How can large cap food companies ensure animal welfare in their supply chains? Triodos Bank believes that companies should do much more in this respect.
Since its earliest days, Triodos Bank has financed the entire organic food chain, from producers and processors to retailers and restaurants. Triodos believes that organic agriculture, including the meat and dairy industry, is the only systematic approach to agriculture that is sustainable in all respects. Factory farming, the raising of livestock in confinement and at high density, is a system whereby a farm operates as a factory and is at the opposite end of the farming spectrum. Factory farming’s main products are meat, dairy products and eggs.
Factory farming is often criticised for poor animal welfare standards and even animal abuse. Common practices in factory farming include, for example, the castration of boars and the de-beaking of chickens without anaesthetic. Moreover, antibiotics are routinely administered to prevent outbreaks of disease that are more likely to occur when animals are confined at high stock density. Although Triodos Bank generally rejects such practices, for our SRI funds we accept that multinationals source or produce ingredients from non-organic, industrial farms. However, this does not mean that these companies are free from responsibility for animal welfare.
On the contrary, they have considerable power over producers and are able to influence consumer preferences. We expect companies involved in the food industry – such as producers, retailers and restaurants – to have strong policies on animal welfare. What should companies do? A good animal welfare policy recognises the intrinsic value of animals and upholds the Five Freedoms. The Five Freedoms are: freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury and disease, freedom to express normal behaviour and freedom from fear or distress. Moreover, animal welfare standards should relate to housing conditions, feed, transport, slaughtering methods, the use of hormones and antibiotics, interventions (such as castration or de-beaking) and breeding.
Standards, preferences, rules and regulations on animal welfare differ per country, culture and region. This makes it challenging for companies to apply similar welfare standards throughout their supply chains. However, companies should at least have a good policy on animal welfare, as well as their own minimum standards on animal welfare in farming. Where possible, companies should monitor animal welfare amongst suppliers and help suppliers to improve living conditions for the animals they raise. We also expect companies to offer alternative products with ingredients produced under better animal welfare standards, for example organic products. Finally, Triodos Sustainability Research favours companies that set substantial targets for improving animal welfare in agriculture and that promote products produced with clear animal welfare standards.
For example, UK food retailer Sainsbury’s has excellent policies and programmes on animal welfare. Sainsbury’s addresses all relevant areas in its policies on cattle farming, such as living space, transport and slaughtering conditions, a ban on hormones and the preventive use of antibiotics, as well as human health and the environment. As an absolute minimum, all Sainsbury’s products must meet the UK ‘Red Tractor’ standard, which covers the Five Freedoms. The company also promotes Freedom Food as its minimum acceptable standard. Freedom Food is a well-recognised animal welfare label in the UK, comparable to the Dutch Beter Leven label. Both are developed by local animal welfare protection organisations. Finally, Sainsbury’s works closely with suppliers, farm assurance schemes and independent experts to improve livestock health and welfare throughout its supply chains.
There are other examples of similarly proactive companies, but the majority lag behind, especially in the food production industry. Triodos Sustainability Research will continue to engage with companies in the industry and encourage them to improve animal welfare standards in livestock farming worldwide.
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Note: The issues explored in this article are specifically relevant for sustainable investments on the stock market. Triodos Bank believes that our socially responsible investments are a powerful means of promoting our values and working for greater sustainability, while enabling us to offer a complete range of attractive investment options to customers who choose to invest on the stock market.