QS: Deutscher Tierschutzbund terminates its cooperation

When it comes to animal welfare, QS is a sham

The President of the German Animal Welfare Association, Wolfgang Apel, ended his work on the QS “Quality and Safety” board of trustees on February 11, 2004. "The QS seal has nothing to do with animal welfare and suggests the opposite to the consumer," explains Wolfgang Apel, explaining the withdrawal. Although QS advertises to be animal and environmentally friendly, animal husbandry only has to meet the completely inadequate minimum legal requirements that every animal breeder and keeper in Germany must comply with anyway. “A willingness to go beyond the minimum requirements and even design the QS standards in an animal-friendly manner cannot be recognized,” explains Apel.

The keeping conditions for pigs, cattle and poultry marked with QS are not animal-friendly. There is no time limit for animal transport. Above all, however, those responsible show no willingness to change the slightest thing. The President of the German Animal Welfare Association, as the only representative of an independent citizens' organization who has remained on the Board of Trustees, cannot and does not want to take part in fruitless discussions. "We can neither agree with our self-image nor with the claim that citizens address us, to support advertising that lies to the consumer," said Wolfgang Apel. “The enlightened consumer expects a seal of approval for animal products that it also stands for ethical responsibility for our fellow creatures. The QS certification mark, on the other hand, conceals endless animal suffering with slatted floors and crates for pigs, tethering for cattle, overbred turkeys and broiler chickens in oppressive confinement. "

The QS seal was launched with the aim of regaining consumer confidence, which had been lost due to the numerous food and animal welfare scandals of recent years. In order to meet this requirement, however, the requirements for animal husbandry would have had to be significantly increased. Strict regulations should have been established that take account of the behavior and needs of animals. Among other things, the German Animal Welfare Association had campaigned to ban slatted floors in cattle and pig farming, to make the stall structure more animal-friendly and to ban manipulations such as trimming beaks and claws and castrating piglets. "But our last attempt, an application to change and supplement the guideline when awarding the QS seal, which we submitted to the board of trustees, was rejected," explains Wolfgang Apel. Healthy animals are a prerequisite for healthy food and these only come from animal-friendly husbandry. The consumer knows that. He must be able to identify the corresponding products based on credible labeling. QS did not contribute to this and ultimately only further increased the uncertainty at the shop counter. "It is therefore all the more important now to promote an agricultural turnaround that really deserves the name," says Apel, with a view to the future commitment of the German Animal Welfare Association. "Anyone who does not want to do without meat should buy it from species-appropriate husbandry, for example from farmers who have joined the NEULAND association for animal-friendly and environmentally friendly livestock husbandry or from ecological animal husbandry." Mr. Apel is only available again for a renewed cooperation in QS Available if animal welfare is discussed there.

Source: Bonn [ dtb ]