We are committed to improving farm animal welfare across our global supply chains. In addition, we recognise the vital link between animal welfare and the health of animals raised for food, and firmly believe that robust farm animal health and welfare standards can have both a direct and an indirect impact on food quality and safety.
In 2012, we joined and committed to the Farm Animal Welfare project of the International Organisation for Animal Health, where we continue to play an active role.
As part of our commitment to farm animal welfare, we engage with our supply chain partners to establish traceability of the animal-derived materials that we source. In addition, our monitoring programme is intended to help us understand the current status of farm animal welfare practices. This allows us to establish a baseline for continuous improvement. In doing this work, we will support and implement actions to promote animal health and welfare, and eliminate practices that contravene the “Five Freedoms” as applied to animals:
- Freedom from hunger, thirst and malnutrition
- Freedom from fear and distress
- Freedom from physical and thermal discomfort
- Freedom from pain, injury and disease
- Freedom to express normal patterns of behaviour
We fully support the work of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) in promoting the implementation of these “Five Freedoms” in the global food supply chain.
On top of that, we also use the Responsible Sourcing Assessment Protocol, developed by Nestlé, together with World Animal Protection, to establish a way of evaluating the state of farms and their practices; including how animals are bred, fed, housed, transported and slaughtered. This helps us to select the right suppliers too. Nestlé was the first major food company to create such a partnership with an animal welfare NGO.
