Aldi and McDonald’s are leading the way for animal welfare, a new study has revealed.
Contrary to the common belief that high end supermarkets and restaurants are always synonymous with higher animal welfare Sainsbury’s ranked as number one for RSPCA Assured products followed by Aldi and the Co-op.
McDonalds lead the way in the food service industry, with retailers such as Amazon scoring a depressingly low figure.
Commenting on this news RSPCA Assured CEO, Clive Brazier, says: “This news flies firmly in the face of the common misconception that you need to shop and eat in ‘high-end’ supermarkets and restaurants to get higher welfare products.
“With their commitment to stocking and using RSPCA Assured products Aldi and McDonald’s have clearly shown that higher welfare doesn’t always mean consumers having to pay a much higher price.”
Nearly 270 million animals (including salmon and trout) were reared to RSPCA welfare standards under the RSPCA Assured scheme in 2016.
It reached more than 64 per cent of farmed Scottish salmon production, more than 55 per cent of UK egg production and nearly a quarter of UK pig production.
Aldi has gone on the offensive with their marketing spend in order to debunk the myth that high-end means high-welfare.
Tony Baines, Joint Managing Director of Aldi Corporate Buying, said: “Animal welfare is important to our customers and we have increased the percentage of RSPCA Assured products we stock in line with this. Our customers know that shopping at Aldi means responsibly sourced products at affordable prices.”
These new figures are published in RSPCA Assured’s latest annual review which gives a snapshot of key achievements in 2016. View the report here.