Government procurement of food for hospitals, schools, prisons, and military represents enormous purchasing power that can drive welfare improvements across supply chains.
Public sector food procurement is one of the most powerful and underused levers for animal welfare improvement available to governments. When governments specify higher-welfare products in their procurement contracts, they create predictable large-scale demand that justifies the investment producers need to upgrade their welfare practices. The political economy is challenging — welfare specifications raise costs and create procurement pressure — but the welfare impact per pound of public spending can be very high because of the scale of influence. Advocates should target public procurement as a priority policy lever.