Statement by the Animal Welfare Initiative
Bonn, May 17.05.2018th, XNUMX – In a joint press release today, eight animal and environmental protection organizations opposed the current criteria of the Animal Welfare Initiative forming the initial stage of the planned state animal welfare label. To this says Dr. Alexander Hinrichs, Managing Director of the Animal Welfare Initiative: “It is legitimate for animal welfare organizations to want to draw attention to themselves. However, in this case, owls are carried to Athens. Because it has long been clear that the initial stage of the planned three-stage state animal welfare label should not correspond to the current, but rather to further developed criteria of the Animal Welfare Initiative. We have already declared our readiness for this further development to Federal Minister Julia Klöckner. It is just as clear, however, that an entry level can only be implemented on a broad basis through the unique network along the entire meat value chain that was created by the Animal Welfare Initiative.”
The Animal Welfare Initiative currently supports more than 6.200 farms, which are checked twice a year and implement a set list of criteria, all of which demonstrably exceed the legal minimum. Every year, 597 million pigs, chickens and turkeys benefit from the animal welfare initiative. As the study "Animal Welfare in Livestock Farming - Standards and Perspectives" by the consumer initiative recently showed, it is the only market-relevant system in the field of animal welfare in livestock farming, alongside the organic label.
"The animal welfare initiative was set up as a dynamic system right from the start, the aim of which is a process of change that has a broad impact," Hinrichs continues. "The Animal Welfare Initiative is taking small but sustainable steps towards more animal welfare, since this is the only way that a large proportion of farms can keep up with the development. This also applies to the further development of the criteria. A further development that corresponds to the entry level of a state label is only logical.”
About the Initiative animal welfare
The Animal Welfare Initiative commits agricultural, meat and food retailers along the value chain for pigs and poultry to their joint responsibility for animal husbandry, animal health and animal welfare in livestock farming. The Animal Welfare Initiative financially supports farmers in implementing measures that go beyond the legal standards for the benefit of their livestock. The implementation of these measures is monitored comprehensively by the Animal Welfare Initiative. After its founding in 2015, Tierwohl 2018 has launched its second, also three-year program phase. The Animal Welfare Initiative is gradually establishing more animal welfare on a broader basis and is continuously being developed further.
