Overview
CIWF has been campaigning against certain labelling and assurance schemes for the last decade as we feel that many schemes are misleading the public as far as animal welfare is concerned.
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Brief history and future objectives
In the UK, CIWF examined various schemes against its own 15 animal welfare measures to see if they do anything other than meet the statutory minimum standards. We compared industry-led schemes, identified by the Little Red Tractor trademark, with the Soil Association’s Certified Organic Standard. We found that while the Certified Organic Standard did indeed represent good welfare standards, the industry-led schemes fell far short of their promises.
The RSPCA’s Freedom Food Scheme has standards which are not as high as the Soil Association’s Organic Standard but are better than the industry’s norm or the Red Tractor Scheme. The Little Red Tractor symbol implies high welfare standards, but our research shows that in some cases even the government’s recommended minimum standards are not being met.
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Through our campaign we hope to highlight those schemes which are misleading the public and which fail to ensure high standards where animal welfare is concerned and support those labelling schemes, such as the Soil Association in the UK, which demand high animal welfare standards. CIWF meets with the heads of these schemes on a regular basis to discuss how standards can be improved.
Campaign actions
- Find out what labelling schemes you have in your country and what they mean in terms of animal welfare.
- Write to the heads of those schemes which do not demand high welfare standards asking them to improve their standards.
- If you are in the UK, ask for copies of our Guide to Compassionate Food Shopping which details the various labelling schemes and what they mean for animal welfare. Give copies to friends and family, to help spread the message that labelling schemes are often not all they seem and to know which labels you can trust!
Get involved with CIWF
CIWF is the organisation that gets things done. To find out more on how you can actively help CIWF with petitions, demonstrations and community fundraising, visit the Get involved section of the website.
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