Conscious consumerism - Your choices improve animal welfare

Being a conscious consumercan be a powerful way of helping to bring about change, putting pressure on companies, brands, and animal industries to prioritise animal welfare.

Doing your own research before buying animal products can help you make better choices. Check out the animal welfare policies of the company or brand before buying. Ask your local supermarket or food store where their products come from and whether they are farmed to higher welfare standards. Finally, make sure you understand labels and certifications on available products.

While animal welfare certification offers a tangible way for consumers to support better animal welfare, not all animal welfare certification programmes are created equal. Check the programme’s standards to see what is and is not covered. Programmes should have their standards freely available (not just a summary) on their websites and have a contact page where you can ask questions. Also, having regular announced and unannounced audits using independent auditors ensures that members follow the standards.

Consciously reducing your reliance on animal products is one way to go. That does not mean being 100% vegetarian or vegan. Simply reducing how much or how often you consume animal products can have an effect. Adopting an approach like this does not only reduce your reliance on animal products in general, but you may also be able to select higher welfare products.

However, we understand that not all New Zealand households can choose higher welfare products, as they can cost more than those produced in systems that just meet the legal minimum standards. But you can still do your bit to support farmed animal welfare. For example, avoid buying imported animal products, as animals in other countries are often farmed to lower welfare standards than here in New Zealand, and commit to buying cage-free eggs to reduce the demand for cage eggs.

SPCA Certified, SPCA’s animal welfare certification programme, covers a wide range of animals, including layer hens, meat chickens, pigs, beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, dairy sheep, and salmon. People wanting their farms and businesses to be approved must meet the SPCA Certified animal welfare standards and pass at least two independent audits each year, one of which is unannounced, to make sure they’re treating the animals in the way that SPCA expects.

For animals such as free-range chickens and pigs, no cages, stalls, or crates are permitted and the focus is on allowing them to range freely, in areas with lots of natural shade and shelter. With free-farmed pigs and laying hens housed in barns, the animals must have environmental enrichment and be able to express their natural behaviours. When it comes to sheep and cattle, SPCA Certified requires that all animals have access to pasture and appropriate shade and shelter to protect them from extreme weather.

If you want to support animal welfare and farmers that go the extra mile, look for the SPCA Certified blue badge on animal products.

If you would like to encourage your local supermarkets or retailers to stock SPCA Certified products, please feel free to contact them directly. The more businesses that stock products with the SPCA Certified blue badge, the more opportunity it gives consumers to buy products that help give New Zealand animals a better life.