DEFRA Call for Evidence - Labelling for Animal Welfare

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer

Food industry & farmers: There is currently no clear, consistent way to differentiate between products that meet or exceed the UK’s baseline welfare regulations – whether domestically produced or imported – and those that do not. Therefore, UK farmers may be undercut by imports of lower welfare and may not be able to capture the value of their products that meet baseline UK welfare regulations. Farmers opting for higher welfare systems may not receive a premium for such products.

Question 22: Do you think that products containing meat should be labelled to indicate the method of slaughter to consumers?
Please select: Yes, as a mandatory label – Yes, through voluntary labelling, with terminology defined in law – Perhaps, but this should be at discretion of the business – No
Why? Please provide supporting evidence

Question 24: Which type of labelling could be most effective at:
a. Supporting farmers meeting or exceeding baseline UK welfare regulations by ensuring they are rewarded by the market?
b. Improving animal welfare by unlocking untapped market demand for higher welfare products?
c. Ensuring UK baseline and higher welfare products are accessible, available, and affordable so that it is easy for consumers to choose food products that align with their values?
Please select: Mandatory – Voluntary, but defined in law – Industry-led
Why? Please use supporting evidence.

Question 25: To what extent do you support the principle of mandatory labelling to identify when imported meat, eggs and milk do not meet baseline UK welfare regulations?
Please select: Strongly support -- Partially support -- Neutral -- Partially oppose -- Strongly oppose
Why?

Prepared food sold through mass catering
The eating out market accounted for £66bn (39% [8]) of food spend, and 11% [9] of energy intake in 2015. However, there may be less transparency available to consumers on the animal welfare standards of food bought in this context [10], so we are looking at how this information could be provided to consumers.

Question 45: Which of the following options do you think could be suitable for indicating welfare standards within the catering sector? Please select up to 3 that you would be in favour of.
1. Mandatory labelling of the welfare standard at the point of sale, for example: on the menu
2. Mandatory disclosure of welfare standards available per product, for example: welfare information must be available on request
3. Mandatory disclosure of welfare standards on aggregate, for example: website states percentage of chicken sourced from free-range systems
4. Voluntary labelling of the welfare standard, using marketing terms defined in law
5. Rating for each mass caterer based on their welfare standards
6. No further action and use existing voluntary disclosures.
Why? Please provide supporting evidence.
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer

Food industry & farmers: There is currently no clear, consistent way to differentiate between products that meet or exceed the UK’s baseline welfare regulations – whether domestically produced or imported – and those that do not. Therefore, UK farmers may be undercut by imports of lower welfare and may not be able to capture the value of their products that meet baseline UK welfare regulations. Farmers opting for higher welfare systems may not receive a premium for such products.

Question 22: Do you think that products containing meat should be labelled to indicate the method of slaughter to consumers?
Please select: Yes, as a mandatory label – Yes, through voluntary labelling, with terminology defined in law – Perhaps, but this should be at discretion of the business – No
Why? Please provide supporting evidence

Question 24: Which type of labelling could be most effective at:
a. Supporting farmers meeting or exceeding baseline UK welfare regulations by ensuring they are rewarded by the market?
b. Improving animal welfare by unlocking untapped market demand for higher welfare products?
c. Ensuring UK baseline and higher welfare products are accessible, available, and affordable so that it is easy for consumers to choose food products that align with their values?
Please select: Mandatory – Voluntary, but defined in law – Industry-led
Why? Please use supporting evidence.

Question 25: To what extent do you support the principle of mandatory labelling to identify when imported meat, eggs and milk do not meet baseline UK welfare regulations?
Please select: Strongly support -- Partially support -- Neutral -- Partially oppose -- Strongly oppose
Why?


Prepared food sold through mass catering
The eating out market accounted for £66bn (39% [8]) of food spend, and 11% [9] of energy intake in 2015. However, there may be less transparency available to consumers on the animal welfare standards of food bought in this context [10], so we are looking at how this information could be provided to consumers.

Question 45: Which of the following options do you think could be suitable for indicating welfare standards within the catering sector? Please select up to 3 that you would be in favour of.
1. Mandatory labelling of the welfare standard at the point of sale, for example: on the menu
2. Mandatory disclosure of welfare standards available per product, for example: welfare information must be available on request
3. Mandatory disclosure of welfare standards on aggregate, for example: website states percentage of chicken sourced from free-range systems
4. Voluntary labelling of the welfare standard, using marketing terms defined in law
5. Rating for each mass caterer based on their welfare standards
6. No further action and use existing voluntary disclosures.
Why? Please provide supporting evidence.
Per the Parrish Amendment that Gov voted down in the Agricullture bill, there should be no food for sale in the Uk imported where the food was produced below minimum UK legal standards

Ever
 

yellowbelly

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
N.Lincs
Everything should be mandatory, this country's producers have got nothing to hide - it would put an end to cr@p like this..
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Thanks for flagging it up - will do it tonight.
 
Last edited:

yellowbelly

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
N.Lincs
Ran out of patience, time and the will to live.
Found myself wanting to shout at the computer.

By the look of some of the leading statements, they've already decided what they want to do.

UK ag already has welfare standards in place which in many cases will be better than imported standards - we don't need to 'gold plate' RT any more. We just need clear and simple labelling of UK produce thst can't be hyjacked and somehow find it's way onto imports.
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
Ran out of patience, time and the will to live.
Found myself wanting to shout at the computer.

By the look of some of the leading statements, they've already decided what they want to do.

UK ag already has welfare standards in place which in many cases will be better than imported standards - we don't need to 'gold plate' RT any more. We just need clear and simple labelling of UK produce thst can't be hyjacked and somehow find it's way onto imports.
I said all that and more in my response

think the WLA and RT stuff has been preloaded by the NFU home side
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Ran out of patience, time and the will to live.
Found myself wanting to shout at the computer.

By the look of some of the leading statements, they've already decided what they want to do.

UK ag already has welfare standards in place which in many cases will be better than imported standards - we don't need to 'gold plate' RT any more. We just need clear and simple labelling of UK produce thst can't be hyjacked and somehow find it's way onto imports.
In these consultations you don't have to answer every question.

You can also submit your evidence by email making it easier to just answer the questions you want to.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Careful what you wish for.
If we want full, mandatory labelling then there has to be a clear and concise way of proving the rearing standards. That effectively makes RT a necessity, and I can fully understand the logic behind animals either being reared to those standards for life, or not at all. It’s difficult to argue for the current ‘60 day’ holding period, especially to anyone outside the industry.
Enforcing proper ‘country of origin’ labelling would be a good start. I would also like to see stun or non-stun as well, NOT halal as most don’t (or won’t) understand that term
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Careful what you wish for.
If we want full, mandatory labelling then there has to be a clear and concise way of proving the rearing standards. That effectively makes RT a necessity, and I can fully understand the logic behind animals either being reared to those standards for life, or not at all. It’s difficult to argue for the current ‘60 day’ holding period, especially to anyone outside the industry.
Enforcing proper ‘country of origin’ labelling would be a good start. I would also like to see stun or non-stun as well, NOT halal as most don’t (or won’t) understand that term
If all of the extras that RT have added over the years since the original FABBL standard were removed, or separated into an optional higher level, and genuine price premiums were on offer then I'd be fully in favour of wla.
 

yellowbelly

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
N.Lincs
In these consultations you don't have to answer every question.

You can also submit your evidence by email making it easier to just answer the questions you want to.
I might have another go. I didn't think about it/attemp it while quite late and got rather bogged down.
Careful what you wish for.
If we want full, mandatory labelling then there has to be a clear and concise way of proving the rearing standards. That effectively makes RT a necessity, and I can fully understand the logic behind animals either being reared to those standards for life, or not at all. It’s difficult to argue for the current ‘60 day’ holding period, especially to anyone outside the industry.
Exactly.
But it's not easy to try to get that over in responses to the questions in the DEFRA document - well, it wasn't for this particular uneducated peasant.

Enforcing proper ‘country of origin’ labelling would be a good start.
Yeah, but we probably have legislation covering that already that is apparently all too easy for processors to get round.
All they seem to want to do is gold plate RT even more and go down the WFA route, wrapping everything up with more red tape.
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
I might have another go. I didn't think about it/attemp it while quite late and got rather bogged down.

Exactly.
But it's not easy to try to get that over in responses to the questions in the DEFRA document - well, it wasn't for this particular uneducated peasant.


Yeah, but we probably have legislation covering that already that is apparently all too easy for processors to get round.
All they seem to want to do is gold plate RT even more and go down the WFA route, wrapping everything up with more red tape.
I strongly suspect that the food processors are lobbying heavily, behind closed doors, to restrict the effectiveness of country of origin labelling because it is so inconvenient to their business model.
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
I strongly suspect that the food processors are lobbying heavily, behind closed doors, to restrict the effectiveness of country of origin labelling because it is so inconvenient to their business model.
You can even see that in the boxes for the processors to respond with specific boxes for the impact on them

Anyone want my responses I am happy to PM my response link
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
A few pointers

I've asked for a mandatory front of packet information box

The box must contain a flag and words for country of origin (ie not where it's processed / cut up)

If it's British then Union Jack of a defined proportionate size in box and "Produced in the UK". Any other Country , their flag plus words

If ingredients from more than one country, all flags must be shown but occupying the same overall space taken by the single Union Jack or other flags with wording "Produce of more than one country"

Meat must have mandatory stun method entered; stun, halal, kosher

Production system voluntary box. Only wording descriptions approved by DEFRA may be entered with minimum legal definitions available through an online resource

Assurance standard voluntary box and again only DEFRA approved schemes with definitions / explanations available online e.g. Red Tractor, Soil Association , Pasture For Life

ELSEWHERE on packaging only wordings approved by DEFRA / ASA allowed on food packaging: Angus / Hereford sired OK but online resource explaining this is not Aberdeen Angus beef but something sired by a registered sire. Free range means different things per species. Organic ..........

Marketing farm type names / brands OK if all the above is statutorily supplied
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 77 43.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 35.0%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 28 15.8%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.3%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,285
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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