Member State Agri Ministers meet today in #AGRIFISH @EUCouncil. This afternoon they are set to adopt landmark Conclusions, calling on @EU_Commission to introduce an enhanced form of method of production labelling to indicate the level of #AnimalWelfare. Big stuff! Stay tuned!

The draft Conclusions can be found here: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-13691-2020-INIT/en/pdf

Why are these good?

1) Any EU-wide animal welfare labelling scheme should be there to improve animal welfare for its own end - ie. not just to ensure a level playing field. This is key!

2) That any label must be tiered to allow for improvement in standards, & consumers must be able to recognise/reward food produced under higher standards than those provided by EU law, whilst also enabling consumers to recognise food produced according to minimum legal standards

3) That such a scheme should include all farmed animals (eventually), giving consideration to *ALL* their living conditions - i.e. the farming system in which they are reared

4) That any such scheme must cover their *entire* lifetime, including, crucially, transport & slaughter

5) That such a label should not disadvantage Member States that have animal welfare legislation in place which is stricter than current EU legal requirements.

In short, this is massive!

And how could/should it look in practice?

Well, for inspiration we can look to...

l’étiquetage bien-être animal in France. This came about through 3 NGOs, including @fondationLFDA & @CIWF_FR, along with @Groupe_Casino, and that you can see below....

If we get something like this that is mandatory in, it will mark a quantum leap forward for #AnimalWelfare.