Animal Welfare Policy

Transparency in Livestock Welfare: Reporting Standards

Transparent reporting of animal welfare outcomes by farms and food companies enables accountability and informed consumer choice.

Key Facts

Major food companies including Tesco and M&S publish annual welfare reports
Key reported metrics include mortality rates, antibiotic use, and certification coverage
Voluntary reporting varies significantly in depth and consistency between companies
The BBFAW benchmark ranks food companies on animal welfare disclosure
Mandatory welfare reporting has been proposed in several jurisdictions

Welfare Considerations

Transparency in welfare reporting creates accountability and enables comparison between companies and farms. The Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare has driven significant improvement in corporate welfare ambition by making company performance publicly comparable. Mandatory standardized reporting would go further, creating a level playing field and preventing companies from avoiding disclosure of poor performance.

What You Can Do

Consult BBFAW rankings when choosing food companies
Advocate for mandatory standardized welfare reporting by food companies
Support companies that publish transparent and detailed welfare outcome data
Ask food companies for welfare outcome data if they do not publish it proactively