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Safeway results - Animals
- Indicator 6.1
- Indicator 6.2
- Indicator 6.3
- Indicator 6.4
- Overall commentary and examples of good practice
- Supermarket comments
Indicator 6.1
Issue: Corporate commitment to farm animal welfare standards
Indicator: Board-level responsibility for and policy on farm animal welfare standards, and promotion
Safeway has both a named board member responsible for animal welfare and a written corporate farm animal welfare policy.
Indicator 6.2
Issue: The welfare of breeding pigs - pregnant sows
Indicator: Sales of pigmeat from progeny of breeding sows kept in stall or tether systems
Stall and tether produced pigmeat is not sold under Safeway’s own label with the exception of ham (9.6% stall and tether, originating from continental meats). No data was submitted for branded pigmeat sales.
Indicator 6.3
Issue: The welfare of laying hens and broiler (meat) chickens
Indicator: Sales of shell eggs by production system
Safeway remains one of the few major retailers to sell more than 50% non-cage eggs; 52% of whole-eggs sold originate from non-caged systems.
Indicator: Sales of fresh and frozen chicken by production system
The vast majority of Safeway chicken meat is intensively produced, with only 2% of sales being reared in high welfare systems.
Indicator 6.4
Issue: Transport of farm animals
Indicator: Policy on transport of farm animals
Safeway sets a welcome policy maximum of 6 hours for red meat animals travelling for slaughter. Across all red meat species, average journey times remain well within the maximum permitted by company policy. Safeway reports average journey times of 3 hours for cattle and sheep, and 2 hours for slaughter pigs.
Overall commentary and examples of good practice
Safeway’s relative performance on animal welfare compared with other major retail companies remains good.
Examples of good practice
- 52% of whole eggs sold originate from non caged systems
- Transport times of livestock to abattoirs are well within the FAWC recommendations
Areas for improvement
- Ensure that all pigmeat, own label or branded, is produced without the use of stalls & tethers for pregnant sows.
- Set a target date by which it intends to cease selling own label and branded battery eggs
- Conduct greater promotion of free range and organic poultry meat
- Continue to ensure adherence to the principle that animals should be slaughtered as near to the point of rearing as possible.
Supermarket comments
“Safeway continues to strive towards improved standards of animal welfare on farm and in factory. For instance we have recently completed trial work in Scotland, looking at improvements on farm. This took into account hygiene standards, animal health and effects on the local environment. The next stage is to look at developing this project into a practical everyday application.
Safeway sponsored and funded a poultry seminar this year through Langford (Bristol University). The subject matter included leg weakness and hock burn, the speakers presenting were leaders in the field and the event was supported by retailers, processors including a number of non-governmental organisations.
Our commitment to welfare standards includes visits to overseas suppliers where our standards are exactly the same. In 2004 our technical department will spend around 3 weeks in South Africa looking at Poultry and Prawn farming. These visits will include audits not only of the production facilities, farms, breeding units and feed mills, but also the workforce itself in line with Safeway’s commitments to ETI codes of practices.”
