Dive Brief:
- Animal welfare has become more important on food companies’ priority list, although reporting remains relatively underdeveloped, according to the fifth annual Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare report.
- The report assessed 99 brands across manufacturers, foodservice and retail sectors, and 73% reported formal animal welfare policies in place — an increase of 27% in the past five years.
- More companies are now talking about financial and reputational opportunities when discussing farm animal welfare in their business plans.
Dive Insight:
People love animals. One look on social media shows that animals are talked about more than children, restaurants and even politics. And the amount of posts, photo and tweets lobbying for the welfare of animals seems to increase every day.
So it’s no surprise that more businesses are starting to take animal welfare more seriously. More consumers are becoming inclined to go with a brand that is known to be more concerned about animals — and quick to boycott those that don’t.
While the report showed that companies are making strides in animal-friendly policy, almost 66% of companies still don’t have a strong system in place for monitoring and ensuring animal welfare. That’s a problem that more consumers need to know about, because if they do, analysts believe the companies will move a little faster to change it.
BBFAW executive director Nicky Amos said that farm animal welfare isn’t even on the business agenda of many large global food companies. However, it's a good sign that 26 companies have moved up their standards up to a higher tier in the past year, showing that the food industry is starting to treat it as an important issue.