Report Examines Corporate Commitments to Farm Animal Welfare

The Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) released a report in early 2017 that scored restaurants, producers, and grocery stores on their commitment to farm animal welfare. The report showed that there is increased attention to animal welfare among corporations. Compared to other corporate social responsibility concerns, however, it is still in its early stages.

The report placed companies in tiers from 1 (“Leadership”) to 6 (“No evidence that [animal welfare is] on the business agenda”). No US-based company made it into tier 1. Only one US company (Kraft Heinz) fell all the way to tier 6, however. A majority of US companies landed in tiers 4 (29 percent) and 5 (40 percent).

Reports like the BBFAW are important. Although companies across the world continue to announce that they are improving animal living conditions, it is often hard to measure actual corporate commitments. The BBFAW promotes increased transparency and more serious engagement on animal welfare issues.