Document type: news item from the Welfarm website
Author: Welfarm
Preview: Welfarm is once again proposing its ETICA approach to help canteens move towards more animal welfare-friendly procurement.
Procurement for public catering: a major challenge
The vast majority of animal products served in school canteens today result from farming practices that are detrimental to animal welfare.
- Only 3% of the products served in school canteens come from organic farms, even though this is one of the few labels that offers guarantees in terms of animal welfare.
- 83.7% of eggs in dishes served in school canteens in 2021 came from caged laying hens.
It follows that most of the supplies for school canteens come from farms where the animals do not have access to the open air and where they are subjected to surgical interventions. For poultry, the majority of products come from strains developed to be fast growing in a way that is detrimental to their health and well-being.
The EGAlim law of 30 October 2018 was supposed to rectify this. This law makes provision for 50% of meals served in all public establishments to be composed of quality and sustainable products by 1 January 2022 and to include at least 20% organic products. However, the regulations include food labels and quality marks among the 'quality and sustainable' products that do not necessarily guarantee animal welfare. They sometimes even allow the worst animal husbandry practices! [...] With millions of meals served each year, public catering could nevertheless play a decisive role in improving the living conditions of farm animals. An exemplary public procurement policy on this issue would support animal-welfare friendly production and raise awareness of responsible eating among young and old alike.
Welfarm is well aware of the issues at stake and has adopted two complementary approaches:
- together with 27 other NGOs, we are asking the candidates in the 2022 presidential elections to make a commitment to animal welfare, asking them in particular to include animal welfare criteria in public procurement procedures;
- with our ETICA approach, we offer free bespoke support to local actors to help them take account of animal welfare in their procurement policies and to reward the efforts of those who make a commitment.
The ETICA approach
After supporting local government in 2019 and 2020, ETICA is now targeting secondary-school canteens. The objective remains the same: to support the canteens of public establishments to move towards supply chains that are more respectful of animal welfare [...] Welfarm is therefore making its tailored support available to secondary schools and providing its decision-making tools free of charge on its dedicated website. We help catering professionals to determine which quality labels and marks contribute to a satisfactory level of animal welfare. Our role is to disentangle the real from the false, helping professionals select, from among the products offered by their suppliers, those that are truly respectful of animal welfare. [...]To find out more about the ETICA approach:
- Visit https://appro-etica.fr/
- Download our information document
