New platform puts retailers' animal welfare labels under the microscope

For many consumers, animal welfare is anything but a sausage when buying meat. In order to find out as much as possible about the production conditions on the shelf, there are labels. The problem is that there is now a veritable label jungle. It is difficult for consumers to keep track of everything: Which label delivers what it promises and which has little meat on the bone in reality?

The Swiss Animal Protection STS now wants to bring light into the darkness and launches the platform Foodmitherz.ch. All of Switzerland's animal welfare labels are put through their paces on it - relevant factors include husbandry, transport or slaughter.

EU meat fails

Overall ratings are awarded in four gradations: No Go, Uncool, OK and Top. It is clear that imported meat produced in accordance with EU guidelines is a no-go from the point of view of animal welfare. Particularly with pork, caution is called for: Aldi, Coop, Denner, Lidl, Migros, Spar and Volg have products in their range that fail completely from the STS point of view.

The organic pork from Migros produced in the EU also only receives the rating "uncool" and is thus on the same level as conventional Swiss pork. However, the Migros organic label is not the only thing that disappoints here: the other organic meat from the EU also does not seem to have much in common with what consumers in this country imagine by "organic".

Top beef also available in Coop and Migros

In contrast, KAG Freiland and the Natura-Beef suckler cow label, among others, performed well. The latter is the most important beef label within Coop Naturaplan and Naturafarm. Migros also scores top marks for beef with its pasture-raised beef labels.

On the other hand, anyone who wants to buy pork with a clear conscience has to look around carefully: Only the Silvestri, Pro Montagna Alpschwein, Wiesenschwein and KAG Freiland labels achieve top marks here.