Nestlé demands improved animal welfare standards

Aug 21, 2014

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

Farms that supply Nestlé with its dairy, meat, poultry and egg needs will now have to comply with stricter animal welfare standards.

The announcement was made following a signed deal with the NGO group World Animal Protection, making it the first major food company to form an international partnership with an animal welfare organization.

"Our decision to work with Nestlé is based upon their clear commitment to improving animal welfare and the lasting change this can have on millions of farm animals around the world,” Mike Baker chief executive for World Animal Protection said in a release.

Nestlé currently has more than 7,300 suppliers that buy its animal produced products, which range from milk, yogurt, ice cream, meat, and eggs. The new welfare criteria are far reaching, as it applies to hundreds of thousands of farms around the world. Additionally, the company hopes to have about 40 percent of its key farm product commodities fully traceable by 2015.

Suppliers must adhere to the Nestlé Supplier Code in order to continue doing business with the company. The company has hired an independent auditor, SGS, to perform checks on the farms to ensure the new standards of animal welfare are being implemented at the farm level. Nestlé says that some of the farm visits will be unannounced.

The company says that they know consumers are about the welfare of farm animals, adding that this formal agreement binds their commitment to supporting the highest possible levels of farm animal welfare standards across its global network. If a supplier is found in violation of said code, it will work with the farm in question to make sure standards are being met. And if a supplier is unwilling to cooperate, Nestlé will terminate their contract.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.