Sainsbury's goes ethical
Veal, pigs and chickens are all on the menu, as Sainsbury's goes ethical in a bid to tap into the growing demand for welfare-friendly products.
The retailer has announced a whole raft of new initiatives, designed to put it ahead of the game when it comes to ethical retailing. "Good animal health and welfare has always been important to Sainsbury's," said Sue Henderson, Sainsbury's integrity manager, "but it's coming up the consumer agenda - and ours as well."
While consumer's budgets were getting tighter, she added, they were not compromising on their values when it came to things like welfare-friendly products. As a result, Sainsbury's has introduced a range of new schemes to meet those consumer demands.
Perhaps most prescient, with Jamie Oliver about to embark on a pig crusade, is the news that Sainsbury's is teaming up with industry to launch a research project into pig welfare.
Working with a pig farm in East Yorkshire, the retailer will fund a trial site to look at breeding, feeding and husbandry techniques, as well as schemes to improve welfare. One of the first such schemes will look into a commercial solution to farrowing crates. If successful, it will be rolled out across the retailer's pig producers, said Annie Graham, agriculture manager. "Our customers expect us to lead the way in animal welfare. We did it with higher-welfare chicken and eggs and we feel the time is right to improve conditions for pigs," she added.
As well as the welfare of pigs, Sainsbury's has also announced the launch of Woodland Chicken - all of its Taste the Difference free-range products will now carry the brand to show the birds have been reared in a woodland environment. The brand was first developed for the retailer's egg ranges, but has been added to poultry meat in response to rising consumer demand.
The chain has also announced the launch of a new range of veal, developed in conjunction with the Sainsbury's Dairy Development Group farmers. The meat, which comes from a Freedom Food-approved, high-welfare specialist unit, went on sale in 20 stores from 21 January.
Graham added: "[This] means that calves that previously provided little or no value will now become a reliable source of revenue for British farmers."
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