Veal production raises significant welfare concerns, particularly traditional white veal systems, while rose veal represents a higher-welfare alternative for dairy bull calves.
The welfare contrast between white veal and rose veal is stark. Traditional white veal confines calves alone in small crates, restricts iron intake causing anaemia and prevents natural behaviours - these are serious welfare harms now banned in the UK and EU. Rose veal calves can move freely, have social contact and eat a varied diet including hay, resulting in markedly better welfare. The least bad option for dairy bull calves is rose veal, since the alternative is often shooting at birth or live export to continental Europe.