Animal welfare: the proposal of a label that evaluates the farming method

Where does the milk and cheese we consume come from? From what kind of breeding? How do the cows that produce the food we eat live? The question is not trivial, indeed, it has a fundamental importance. Because if it is now clear to all of us that the food we eat makes a difference, both for our health and for the health of the world, we should consequently be concerned about knowing how what we choose to consume is produced.

But how do you choose the right product? It is not always simple: the producers are well aware that the market is oriented towards a healthy diet and they choose packages with cows on green pastures and labels such as “genuine” and “Italian” to let us choose their products.

But how do we know that there is a true wellness practice behind those words? This is why it is increasingly important to have reliable certifications on which to base our food choices. And that’s why Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) e Legambiente presented today, live on their Facebook pages and website lanuovaecologia.it, its proposal for criteria for a labeling according to the farming method for dairy cows.

The criterion is simple: a cow that lives healthy and in an environment suitable for its development, will have a better life and will produce better milk. But what are the criteria to consider? Animal welfare is linked to the possibility of expressing one’s natural behavior, such as going out to the pasture, ruminating lying down, expressing one’s social life.

For this the table presented by CIWF answers questions such as, Does the cow live tied up (fixed housing) or is it free? Does he have access to pasture, and for how many hours? And through these criteria he identifies the “virtuosity” of breeding with 5 which defines intensive breeding to get to 0 which defines organic breeding, while 1 is the best level which defines animals that do not live linked, which are pasture from 6 to 8 months and for which the pasture guarantees 60% of the diet. “This labeling proposal allows those who raise the cows to pasture to be visible to consumers. The important thing is that everyone has the opportunity to access clear information, ”he says Federica Di Leonardo by CIWF Italia. “The table we have prepared tends to favor the transition from a lower to a higher level”. In practice, it offers farmers a chance to grow and consumers to choose. And that this is a desire of many is confirmed by the data. Consumers are willing to spend more to buy animal products that aren’t raised in cages, and also willing to spend more on clearer labeling. On the other hand, other studies confirm that products derived from free-range systems have better nutrients.

The proposal is therefore that of voluntary, univocal and national labeling according to the farming method, which makes consumers protagonists of the transition towards more sustainable farming systems.

“Food choices are one of those areas where every single citizen has the possibility of being a protagonist,” he says Antonino Morabito of Legambiente. «We can choose not to fall into the trap of below cost, remembering that the products that are offered at low prices hide another cost, which affects our health, the environment, our future. That saving on the product below cost has other costs, which are called “outsourced”, which everyone ends up paying for. We want transparency and clarity, because people have the tool to make choices, because we know that we can change and loving animals means loving us all “.

“Last July article 224-bis of the relaunch decree was approved which provides for a new certification of animal welfare – says Federica Di Leonardo – We know that the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agricultural Policies and Accredia are working on the definition of these production standards. But representatives of civil society do not participate and the criteria of animal welfare are not very ambitious. We ask the government to involve civil society in the certification of animal welfare. We are the voice of animals but we also represent that of consumers. We ask that this process be transparent ».