SUSTAINABILITY FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE January 2024 49 tality, thus resulting in improved growth rates. This of course has got a huge positive impact on animal welfare and comfort. As proven by a study conducted in Switzerland, where pig farrowing crates were completely abolished by 2007, concerns about sows crushing their piglets proved unfounded. If given more space, sows respond with more litters, higher birth weights, and higher weaning weight of their piglets. The economic success (or otherwise) of such a venture will be most likely resolved by consumers and the purchasing power of their wallets, just as the case was with cage-free eggs. THE PERCEPTION OF ANIMAL PRODUCTS It takes an average shopper just over a second to select a product from what is displayed on a shelf. Is one second really enough to study the label? For digital natives, pictorial writing is nowadays a must. Packaging has become more important than the product itself. What's inside the packaging? Advertisements for foods compete intensely in portraying farming as an idyllic space for both humans and animals. All the milk, pork and eggs in supermarkets do not come, however, from the farms as they are pictured in popular TV series. On the other hand, one indeed can hardly pass through the centre of any large city without being confronted with billboards posted by various NGOs which present themselves as promoting animal rights. Such billboards present images which consumers find disturbing. Certainly, these images are loaded with emotions, but do they present facts, too? On the one hand, animal rights activists sometimes do use surreal arguments, but are they all in the wrong? Consumers are informed about sows encaged for a significant part of their lives, without even being able to turn their bodies around. Other stories refer to castrations, docking of piglets' and lambs' tails without anaesthesia, trimming of beaks, cannibalism among farm animals, stereotypies e.g. of sows because of lack of stimuli of animals more intelligent than dogs. Finally, there are the issues of transportation, loading and unloading of animals, lack of space, use of prods, and general mistreatment of animals by their handlers. If animal husbandry problems continue to be denied, is it going to help consumers understand them better? Actually, such a strategy stands no chance since more inquisitive souls will rather decide to reject an entire market segment than give producers a second chance. And, even though it may not be easy to engage is a debate with someone who proposes a ban on eating all meats, it may be worth just giving the concept a thought. At the Feedinfo Summit in Barcelona (September 2022), Tony Anderson, former marketing director of Easy Jet and an outsider to the farming industry, said that the airline industry and animal production had more in common than not, and that they faced similar challenges. What he meant were high expectations on the part of general public regarding environmental protection and the associated emissions restrictions being implemented at a sensitive time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both sectors have a lot to change in terms of environmental impact. The air transport boasts about what has already been achieved and presents plans for the future. Is the meat sector working just as hard on how it is being perceived? Is it developing a strategy for the future or is it turning its eyes away from the problem? ANTIBIOTIC-FREE AND GMO-FREE MEAT JUST AREN'T ENOUGH! "Antibiotic-free meat" is a slogan which consumers recognise only too well. But what about animal welfare? Given that animal husbandry has become heavily industrialised, is it possible for one's pork chop to be ethically procured? Can we really think of some added value or is it just marketing? Steve Ells, founder of the Chipotle Mexican Grill chain, was one of the first to offer in his restaurants burritos made from antibiotic- and hormone-free, humanely-raised pork. Ells came up with the idea some 20 years ago and, despite a higher price (by about US $1), he managed to double the sales of his pork burritos. Of course, the statement on the label is important, but more important still is the certification. This is because meat producers, even those who farm grass-fed animals, too often take advantage of their consumers' lack of knowledge: cattle grazing on grass or being fed grass pellets in the last phase of their fattening is something quite the opposite. An NGO called Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC) administers the “certified humane raised and handled” program label. Furthermore, there are many NGOs which educate consumers about animal welfare and help them choose products which guarantee so. BC SPCA, a Canadian organisation, provides on its website (https://spca.bc.ca/) a clear explanation of various markings. The added val-
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