Committee publication · Correspondence · 2 September 2025
Correspondence from the Animal Sentience Committee regarding animal welfare labelling, dated 22 July 2025
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Inquiry: Animal and plant health
Summary
The Animal Sentience Committee writes to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee to share its opinion on animal welfare labelling policy, developed by Richard Cooper in May 2025. The committee advocates for a robust, government-led welfare labelling scheme with independently verified standards to address market failures, improve consumer transparency, and protect UK producers ahead of trade negotiations with India and the United States.
Key findings
- Current labelling systems fail to provide meaningful, standardised information on animal welfare provenance and production systems despite strong public support for animal welfare transparency.
- Recent and ongoing trade negotiations with India and the United States risk undermining UK welfare standards through imports produced to lower standards; clear labelling would help consumers identify aligned products.
- A government-led welfare labelling scheme anchored in independently verified standards could address market failures, allow markets to reflect consumer demand, and ensure fair competition for UK producers operating to higher standards.
- The committee notes the previous government's public consultation on labelling policy generated substantial responses, demonstrating public importance of the issue.
- The Animal Sentience Committee was actively examining labelling before the government change and will scrutinise the current government's National Food Strategy for appropriate animal welfare product labelling.
Tone
FactualTopics
Key actors
Animal Sentience Committee, Michael Seals, Richard Cooper, Alistair Carmichael, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Notable line
“A robust, government-led welfare labelling scheme in conjunction with industry - anchored in independently verified standards - could help to address market failures and promote high animal welfare.”
Key Quotes
“… the ASC is concerned that current labelling systems often fail to provide meaningful, standardised information on animal welfare provenance and, in some sectors, production systems.”
“Recent and ongoing trade negotiations, notably with India and the United States, underline the importance of transparent welfare labelling.”
“Without clear labelling, consumers struggle to identify products that align with their welfare expectations.”
“We will be examining the current government's National Food Strategy and associated policies and are confident that appropriate animal welfare product labelling could help to shape the future direction for food production within the UK.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗