The enforcement of existing animal welfare legislation through farm inspection is essential to ensuring legal minimum standards are met, yet inspection frequency and enforcement action are often inadequate.
Welfare legislation without effective enforcement offers animals little protection. Research consistently shows significant rates of non-compliance with welfare standards in inspected farms, suggesting that uninspected farms may have even higher rates of welfare problems. The disconnect between the welfare standards that consumers believe apply to the animals whose products they purchase and the reality on uninspected farms is a significant welfare governance failure. Risk-based inspection systems that direct resources toward higher-risk operations, combined with mandatory reporting of welfare indicators, provide more effective coverage than infrequent random inspection.