2020 Good Farm Animal Welfare Award winners announced

Published 25/06/2020

The 2020 Good Farm Animal Welfare Awards ceremony, due to take place at the Tower of London on 16^th June, like so many other events this year was a casualty of COVID-19 and was cancelled.

However, despite these challenging times, Compassion is delighted to celebrate this year’s winners who are forging ahead with their higher welfare commitments and creating positive change for millions of farm animals across the globe.

In 2020, 34 awards were presented to companies in the UK, EU, China and the US, which are set to benefit the lives of 28 million animals each year. This takes the overall impact of Compassion’s Food Business programme to date, through awards, partnership projects and corporate pledges, to over 2 billion animals set to benefit annually.

AWARDS HIGHLIGHTS

In 2020, there were 12 Good Egg Awards, three Good Chicken Awards, one Good Turkey Award, four Good Calf Awards, five Good Dairy Commendations, one Good Sow Commendation, one Good Rabbit Commendation, six Good Pig Production Awards in China and one Cage Free Award presented to Coop UK.

In terms of sector breakdown there were nine retailers recognised for their work, five food service companies and 20 producers or manufacturers (including the six Chinese Good Pig Production Award winners).

2020 Award Winners

GOOD NEWS FOR POULTRY!

Noble Foods, the UK’s biggest egg producer was awarded a Good Egg Award for their commitment to be 100% cage free by 2025.

The team at Noble Foods has been working hard with their equipment manufacturers, Vencomatic, to begin their conversion of enriched caged houses to a new, higher welfare aviary barn system. Watch the video to find out more...

Jean-Paul Michalski, Company Farms Director at Noble Foods, commented: “Animal welfare is of the utmost importance to Noble Foods and we’re extremely proud of the CIWF Good Egg Award. Our aim is to be an example and deliver standards of care that significantly push the boundaries to set new industry goals for responsible farming.”

Both Aldi UK & Ireland and Lidl UK received a Good Egg Award for their cage-free commitments on both shell and ingredients eggs, demonstrating that good welfare practices really can come at affordable retail prices.

Fritz Walleczek, Managing Director of Corporate Responsibility at Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “As a responsible retailer, animal welfare is always a top priority for us. We are thrilled to receive the Good Egg Award as recognition of our continuing efforts to ensure the high welfare standards we insist on are upheld throughout the supply chain.”

Amali Bunter, Responsible Sourcing Manager, Lidl Great Britain added: "We are proud to be recognised by Compassion in World Farming for our commitment to sourcing 100% cage-free eggs by 2025. As part of Lidl's vision to 'make good food accessible to everyone' we are committed to working closely with our suppliers and the wider sector to achieve this goal, delivering greater transparency and higher welfare standards across our supply base."

Norwegian discount retailer REMA 1000 Norge AS and poultry producer, Norsk Kylling have worked collaboratively to successfully implement the higher welfare requirements of the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) – and are making it work economically for both businesses and consumers alike. They set an inspiring example to other businesses that are looking to move to the BCC standard and in recognition of this work they received a Good Chicken Award. Read the case study to find out more.

Kaia Andresen - Head of CSR, 2020, REMA 1000 said: "We are proud to be the first retailer in Norway to receive the Good Chicken Award and furthermore to be among a few in the world that already offers its customers chicken that meets the higher welfare criteria of the award. Our own brands Solvinge and Stangekylling are both highly ambitious in improving animal welfare and received the award in 2019 and 2020. The Good Chicken Award is recognition of the work we have done together and not least a motivation for the work that is to come."

In the US, Taco Bell received a Good Egg Award for meeting their target to be 100% cage-free on shell and ingredient eggs – already benefiting over 400,00 hens every year.

Missy Schaaphok, Senior Manager, Global Nutrition and Sustainability at Taco Bell said: “…We believe it is our responsibility to identify challenges that impact our supply chain and our customers, and to be a part of solutions, which is why we have been serving only 100% cage-free breakfast eggs since 2016 and egg ingredients since 2018. We look forward to continued supplier and stakeholder collaboration as we spearhead industry-leading efforts, all so that fans don’t have to choose between crave-ability and responsibility at Taco Bell.”

Leading Italian food service company, MARR is on their journey to be cage-free by 2025. Their aim is to eliminate both cages and combination systems from their supply chain - a welcome move in Italy where combi systems are commonly used. For this commitment they received a Good Egg Award.

And Cook picked up the only Good Turkey Award this year - add to their bulging trophy cabinet which already boasts a Good Egg Award (2011), Good Pig Award (2016) and Good Chicken Award (2017).

Tony Mayer, Head of Supply Chain at Cook said: “We are absolutely thrilled to receive a Good Turkey Award. A great deal of work went on behind the scenes at COOK to get us here in time for Christmas 2020, and this award marks an important step in our journey as a responsible food business.”

INFLUENCING THE DAIRY SECTOR

Dairy cows standing in a barn on hay facing the camera

Morrisons received a Good Calf Award in recognition of their joint venture partnership with Arla Foods and Buitelaar to set up a new higher welfare dairy beef scheme – which has the potential to benefit over 2,000 calves every year. The aim is that by 2025 all Morrisons dairy beef will be sourced as part of this scheme.

Sophie Throup, Head of Agriculture, Fisheries and Sustainable Sourcing at Morrisons said: “At Morrisons, our customers tell us time and again how important animal welfare is to them. We therefore continue to develop, innovate, measure and monitor animal welfare standards, and to work closely with the farmers and suppliers we buy directly from."

Mondelez International received a Good Dairy Commendation for their iconic Philadelphia brand for expanding their higher welfare policy for dairy cows across a further 15 European countries, increasing the number of dairy cows benefiting from their work by 66%.

Valerie Thill, Marketing Director Philadelphia for Mondelez Europe said: “We recognise the link between animal welfare and the health of animals raised for food. To secure high-quality milk and dairy products, we have always put good farm practices and animal welfare at the heart of our continuously improving process.

"We guarantee the unanimously loved taste of Philadelphia is made of fresh milk from farms we know and trust, of close working relationships with our milk suppliers and from happy and healthy cows in higher welfare systems that also respect the environment.”

In Italy, Casearia di Sant’Anna has been working hard to introduce their ‘Oltrebio’ standard for their Parmesan cheese, which goes beyond basic organic requirements. They use milk from cows that are guaranteed pasture access, which is a rarity in Italy. As a result, they are the very first Italian company to receive a Good Dairy Commendation.

2020 CAGE FREE AWARD

Compassion was delighted to recognise Coop UK with this year’s prestigious Cage Free Award in recognition of the retailer’s efforts to support cage free farming, and in particular their drive to remove confinement systems for sows in their continental meat supply chain in Italy, Spain and Germany, working with partners Winterbotham Darby.

Coop UK already hold a Good Egg Award for their cage-free commitment across shell and ingredient eggs, and a Good Pig Award for their higher welfare pork, bacon, sausage, gammon and ham which is sourced from 100% outdoor-bred pigs on RSPCA Assured Farms.

Now in 2020, Coop UK are being recognised for their commitment to improve the welfare of sows in their continental meat supply chain which includes: the removal of sow stalls, the introduction of free farrowing and the use of manipulable materials throughout life.

Their work will undoubtedly drive further positive change in continental meat production and demonstrates the type of leadership shown by previous Cage Free Award recipients, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose.

CHINA’S LEADERS IN PIG WELFARE

Despite the COVID-19 crisis, Compassion was delighted to recognise six producers in China who each received a Good Pig Production Award, reflecting the efforts they have made to improve the breeding, housing, rearing and health management of their pigs.

This year’s highest achiever was Sun Zhao Demonstration Farm, part of Henan Nongduoduo Agro-Pastoral Ecological Technology Co., Ltd who earned a 4-star accolade.

This farm raises 1,000 sows and ensures the welfare for nearly 20,000 finishers every year. The farm uses fermented bedding (except for the lactation period), group housing of dry sows (including the observation period), does not tail dock or teeth clip, and is committed to providing manipulable material throughout life.

Mr. Guoxiushan, the company’s production consultant said: “Thank you CIWF! Thank you ICCAW! It is an honour for our company to win the Good Pig Production Award! We firmly believe the goal of improving animal welfare is the direction we need to follow in order to change the concept of farming; improve the living environment, improve animal welfare, provide safe products and achieve healthy farming. Let us keep our mission in mind and move ahead!”

Compassion’s Director of Food Business, Tracey Jones concludes: “It’s fantastic to see that there is still an appetite to improve the welfare of farm animals amongst key food industry players, despite the difficulties COVID-19 has thrown at them, and I wholeheartedly congratulate them all.

“Farm animal welfare is not just for the good times or the niche products - every animal reared for food deserves a good quality of life. As we emerge from this pandemic there is much to learn, none more so than how we balance the relationship between the food we eat, its impact on the environment, natural resources and rich biodiversity of our fragile planet, and the health and livelihoods of its people.

“Never in our history has it been so urgent to build a more resilient sustainable food system with animal welfare at its heart. Our corporate partners are on that journey and we will continue to work with them to drive this much needed change.”

IMPACT FOR ANIMALS

Compassion’s Food Business team engages with the world’s leading food companies, inspiring progress through prestigious awards, policy commitments, and supporting products and initiatives which represent tangible benefits for farm animals.