11 April 2022 – A new European Commission study shows that two thirds of EU citizens want more information and clarity about animal welfare of animal products.

It also highlighted that EU consumers had a low level of knowledge regarding the conditions in which farmed animals are kept and treated. With the vast majority of EU consumers wanting to receive more information about the conditions at the farm and during transport and slaughter. This follows on from last week's report, published by The European Commission, which showed that 92% of the near 60,000 public respondents wanted stronger legislation on animal welfare.

FOUR PAWS, the global animal welfare organisation, has long been calling a European Union wide uniform approach for animal welfare labelling.

Background:

FOUR PAWS calls for:

• a mandatory labelling of all animal-derived food products, including processed food, retail, and out-of-home-consumption
• a labelling system which defines tiers focussing on animal needs and clearly communicating the animal welfare status
• to reach a first animal welfare level (and thus any kind of subsidies) any intervention and environment causing stress, pain or suffering for the animals need to be excluded as minimum
• a reduction of the number of farm animals to be able to meet species specific as well as environmental needs
• 3Rs principle: Reduce, Refine and Replace