Animal welfare initiative reaches milestone

The Tierwohl Initiative (ITW) reports a decisive success in the preparation of its third program phase, which starts in January 2021. Months before the start, 3.696 pig farmers with more than 21,1 million animals per year have already registered. These include 3031 pig fatteners with 12,4 million animals annually. The number of registered fattening pigs two months before the start of the new program phase thus almost corresponds to the current number of fattening pigs in the ITW program. "This is a strong signal from farmers to society and an important milestone for business involvement in the ITW," says Dr. Alexander Hinrichs, managing director of the Tierwohl initiative. “The commitment of farmers to animal welfare is unbroken. Many pig farmers apparently see the ITW's new program phase as a great opportunity to establish their commitment to animal welfare in the market with the help of the ITW's new financing model. Agriculture, the meat industry and trade show society together how animal welfare works for the broader population. "

In the new phase of the program, the Tierwohl initiative aims to expand the ability to be labeled with the ITW seal in the pork range. "Similar to what has already been achieved with poultry meat since 2018, we also want to enable entire product ranges in retail to be raised from level 1 to level 2 for pigs. With 12,4 million fattening pigs already, this goal has become tangible. We hope to receive further registrations from animal owners at the start of the new program phase from January 2021 ”, Hinrichs continues.

About the animal welfare initiative
With the Tierwohl (ITW) initiative launched in 2015, partners from agriculture, the meat industry, food retail and gastronomy commit themselves to their joint responsibility for animal husbandry, animal health and animal welfare in livestock husbandry. The animal welfare initiative supports farmers financially in implementing measures for the welfare of their livestock that go beyond the legal standards. The implementation of these measures is monitored across the board by the Animal Welfare Initiative. The product seal of the Tierwohl Initiative only identifies products that come from animals from participating companies in the Tierwohl Initiative. The animal welfare initiative is gradually establishing more animal welfare on a broad basis and is continuously being further developed. www.initiative-tierwohl.de

The partners of the initiative are:

• eV Federation of German meat industry
• German Farmers Association
• German Raiffeisen Association
• Trade Association for Market Economy eV
• Association of the Meat Industry eV
• Central Association of the German Poultry Industry eV