RSPCA launches animal welfare business awards

The awards seek to reward food retailers – supermarkets, small retailers and pubs – that source meat, fish, dairy and eggs from suppliers that maintain high welfare standards.

Entrants this year will be judged on welfare of beef, dairy cattle, poultry bred for meat, laying hens, pigs, sheep and farmed fish; live transport of animals; commitment to only selling meat from animals that have been pre-stunned before slaughter; labelling; import of meat and eggs from other countries and farm inspection.

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Last year's winners were Edge and Son butchers from the Wirral in the small retail section, Sainsbury's in the supermarket category and the Duke of Cambridge in Islington as 'Best Public House'.

According to journalist and judge Richard Johnson: "Admittedly, price is key to many consumers, but plenty are now saying that the welfare of animals is also very important to them. They want know where their food comes from. There's a desire for transparency and we need to be open and frank that the animal you are eating has had a good life."

David Bowles, head of external affairs at the RSPCA, said: "People have been demanding better animal welfare for a while, but there has either been nothing in the marketplace to satisfy demand, or we've not had the businesses knowing that the demand is out there."

Download an entry for the RSPCA Good Business awards here. The entry deadline is 5pm on Wednesday, 30 June 2010.

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