New developments in EU animal welfare

JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, attended a virtual meeting of the EU Animal Welfare Platform this week, in her role as one of the independent experts who sit on the platform. The platform meets every six months, but with the current pandemic this was the first one to be hosted online rather than in Brussels.

Early parts of the meeting were taken up with the presentation and discussion of the new EU Strategy: From Farm to Fork. This represents the plans for the EU in moving towards a greener and more sustainable future by, for example, reducing the use of pesticides and antimicrobials in food production by 50% over the next 10 years, and increasing organic farming to 25% of farmed land.
Presenting the strategy, Andrea Gavinelli for the EU said: ‘Better animal welfare improves animal health and food quality, reduces the need for medication and can help preserve biodiversity’ explicitly emphasising that animal welfare is an integral part of sustainability.

Embedded within this are pledges to consider whether animal welfare legislation is still fit for purpose, and to investigate whether an animal welfare food labelling scheme is required. Some of the EU animal welfare legislation is already 20 years old, and based on scientific research done when animal welfare science was in its infancy. A great deal of animal welfare research has since been carried out and can be used to improve animal welfare through improving the legislation, and transitioning to greener farming practices. Also under discussion was the discrepancy between specific legislation for some species (pigs and poultry) but not for others (e.g. cattle, sheep, fish, rabbits etc), which are covered by broader, non-specific legislation only.

Further developments of animal welfare in the EU were also discussed through the activities of the Animal Welfare Reference Centres. The first of these, for pigs, began its activities about 18 months ago, and seeks to provide responses to questions and synthesis of scientific knowledge for the member states of the EU.

Their website is a great source of information for all things pig welfare: https://www.eurcaw.eu/en/eurcaw-pigs.htm. The second reference centre, covering poultry and small farmed animals (rabbits and animals farmed for fur), has just begun its activities earlier this year, and plans for a third reference centre, to cover ruminants and horses, were announced.
Overall, the meeting reflected an increased enthusiasm to move forward with animal welfare improvements in the EU, and to support farmers and consumers in having access to higher welfare products.