A cache of unpublished records obtained in summer 2023 reveals disturbing new evidence on the extent and nature of the EU’s trade in farm animals.

The data comprises official planning records relating to more than 180,000 consignments of animals, moving between EU countries and to non-EU countries between October 2021 – April 2023. It clearly shows that the rules for live transport are not robust or detailed enough to truly protect the welfare of animals in the sector.

A joint report by Eurogroup for Animals and Compassion in World Farming.

As of November 2023, ten species of insect are currently authorised (or are pending authorisation) to be farmed in Europe. While the insect farming industry is rapidly developing and is already rearing insects by the billions, clear rules on their welfare are still missing due to lack of research and interest from policymakers.

This report explores one critical welfare consideration that is currently being overlooked: the diets of farmed insects. It describes what each species is being fed on insect factory farms in the EU, and offers recommendations for improvement. Ultimately, through positive diet change, this research aims to improve farmed insects' quality of life in a rapidly-expanding sector that shows no sign of slowing down.

Foreword by Eurogroup for Animals. Report by Dr. Helen Lambert and Dr. Amelia Cornish.

Eurogroup for Animals commissioned Human Behaviour Change for Life (HBCL) to write this report: ‘Business case: the benefits of a carcass over a live animal trade’.

This document considers the business case for a change to the export of carcass meat instead of live animals from the European Union (EU) to third countries. It includes the current economic, environmental, and societal challenges and opportunities that these different approaches present.

The research provides a unique insight into the costs of the trade through the development and use of innovative modelling, frameworks, case studies and evidence-based approaches. It enables the consideration of how a move from live animal export towards a meat and carcass trade could be advantageous for the agricultural sector, the environment, and wider society.

A new report by the 'Put Change on the Menu' coalition (Eurogroup for Animals, the European Public Health Alliance and the European Consumer Organisation).

There's growing evidence that our food choices are shaped by the ‘food environments’ we navigate in.* Most people, however, do not realise the extent to which our eating habits are steered by powerful influences in our everyday lives, from the food ads that are pushed in front of us to the 'promos' and discounts on offer at our local supermarkets.

Unfortunately, today’s food environments largely steer us towards diets which are not in-line with healthy eating recommendations, high animal welfare standards, or the European Commission's vision for sustainable food and farming.

This report takes a look at the critical role of food environments in encouraging citizens to shift to healthy, more plant-based diets with ‘less and better’ animal source foods, and argues why these environments should be a critical consideration when the Commission works on its Framework for Sustainable Food Systems legislation this autumn (2023). It was launched at an event on July 28 - watch the recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jrtx_mbUk8

* Food environments are the “physical, economic, political and socio-cultural context in which consumers engage with the food system to make their decisions about acquiring, preparing and consuming food”. (Source: HLPE ‘Nutrition and food systems’ report)

Report by the Impact Institute, commissioned by Eurogroup for Animals - now with a new annex (updated September 2023).

Domesticated animals play a major role in human agricultural and food systems, both historically and today. The continuous growth in global wealth, as well as increased efficiency and industrialisation of animal sourced food production, has created both unprecedented quantities of, and access to, animal sourced food.

In view of these developments, Eurogroup for Animals commissioned an investigation into the true
costs of EU animal sourced food production and consumption. This report discusses the assessment of the EU’s production and consumption of animal sourced food. It evaluates the extent of external costs to human health, the environment, low animal welfare and human livelihood brought about by producing and consuming animal sourced food.

Moreover, the report discusses recommendations to address the externalities of the industrial animal food industry. This work can be used to inform policy and decision-making processes regarding the new EU animal welfare legislation.

Though the EU recognises farmed animals as sentient beings, the current animal welfare legislation does not take into account their innate needs and natures. In fact, loopholes and oversights in the laws that were written to protect them mean these poor beings are often mistreated and neglected by those that are meant to care for them, as well as housed in miserable environments, fed poor diets, and slaughtered inhumanely after experiencing lives full of stress, frustration and anxiety.

This cannot continue. When the European Commission revises the animal welfare legislation later this year, they must include strong, precise, and species-specific rules that support and protect the mental, emotional and physical state of all farm animals. This report covers five species and issues that particularly need the Commission's attention.

This report was created in-line with this exposé video, which features undercover footage from our MOs of the issues it explores (https://youtu.be/1LqIK_JVadg).

Many producers, retailers and food manufacturers across the EU have already embraced society’s call to ‘End the Cage Age’. This report summarises numerous interviews with stakeholders involved in all different stages of the supply chain, focusing on shifting to non-cage systems for sows, rabbits, and laying hens. Contains case studies, scientific evidence, data and recommendations for a smooth and swift cage-free transition.

Since 2017, European industry has started significantly scaling up the industrial farming of new animals, including several species of insects. It aims to rear trillions of insects annually, which would make them the most industrially-farmed animals in Europe. This report takes a look at how this type of farming could impact the wellbeing of insects, as well as how this new source of animal feed could have a knock-on effect on the livestock farming sector, along with the sustainability of Europe’s food systems.

Ten species of insects are authorised for food or feed in the EU, and the number is likely to grow over the coming years. Insects are seen as a solution to food sustainability both as a replacement feed for animals and as a protein source for humans. However, the situation is not clear-cut. Industrial insect production does not go hand in hand with sustainable food systems.

Taking insect welfare as a starting point, this review highlights that:
1. The EU needs to ensure that insect production does not exacerbate the food-feed competition.
2. Insects used in feed must not slow progress towards the EU’s sustainable food system objectives.
3. The welfare of insects needs to be taken into account as they have behavioural needs and cognitive abilities.
4. Genetic manipulation of insects is part of the business model, it must be approached with caution as it can give rise to new welfare concerns.

This document gives an overview of answers to the most frequent questions or concerns about cultivated meat. Since its technological development is an ongoing process and the insights of its impact are still growing, this overview should be considered as a living document.

On 20 January 2022, the European Parliament adopted the Recommendation which had previously been approved by the Committee of Inquiry on the Protection of Animals during Transport (ANIT) on 2nd December 2021. Eurogroup for Animals believes that the already weak Recommendation approved by the ANIT Committee was watered down further in Plenary. The amendments that could have had considerable positive impact on the welfare of the animals transported, as well as those supporting a systemic change, did not receive the support needed and expected.

After nearly two years of work, the Committee of Inquiry on the Protection of Animals during Transport (ANIT) voted on the drafted Report and Recommendations back in December 2021.

The Committee was meant to investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to the protection of animals during transport (Council Regulation EC 1/2005) within and outside the Union. To this end, it organised three fact finding missions, ten public hearings, 14 individual hearings and several coordination meetings.

The so-called ANIT is the fourth inquiry approved in the history of the European Parliament and the very first one on animal welfare.

Live transport, far from being a concern only from an animal welfare perspective, is also relevant from a public health and environmental standpoints: as highlighted by the Committee, this activity represents a major risk factor in the spread of infectious animal diseases in the EU, and a source of environmental pollution, especially in relation to the violation of the MARPOL convention.

With the knowledge that the animals we farm are sentient beings, comes the responsibility to provide them
with a good level of welfare. Many animals across the European Union are suffering due to inadequacies
and omissions in the current EU Directives, and a failure to enforce them. This report seeks to highlight key examples of where the current EU Directives (General Farming; 2007/43/EC, Broilers; 2008/120/EC, Pigs; 2008/119/EC and Layers; 1999/74/EC) are failing farmed animals in the EU. We call for no animal to be left behind in the revision of the animal welfare acquis.

On 18th December 2020, the livestock vessels Karim Allah (1) and Elbeik (2) departed from the ports of Cartagena and Tarragona (Spain), bound for Iskenderun (Turkey). Originally foreseen as a 10-day journey from a European (EU) to a non-EU country, the 2,600 bovines onboard underwent a three-month odyssey with a fatal outcome. Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF) and Eurogroup for Animals, deeply concerned about the suffering the 2,600 bovines had to endure over a three months period, commissioned the law firm Joaquín Ortega Abogados, S.L. an in depth analysis of these two cases. The aim was to identify the roles and responsibilities of the actors involved in these transport operations. Evidence collected and reported by the law firm indicates that the welfare of the animals on board of these livestock vessels was seriously compromised.

Since 2014, the European Commission has subsidised numerous campaigns promoting the consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy products in the EU and globally. The European Commission’s contribution to these campaigns is vast, with millions spent each year. These financial contributions are inconsistent with the EU’s commitment to promoting sustainable, healthy diets and reducing meat consumption in the EU as laid out in the Biodiversity Strategy and the Farm to Fork strategy.

Meat chickens (broilers) are the most numerous terrestrial farmed animals in the European Union (EU).
They are predominantly reared indoors in intensive farming systems. The main aims of this document are to summarise scientific findings on the welfare challenges that broiler chickens face during all stages of their life, including those not currently addressed by minimum legal requirements, and to highlight the potential solutions, with an emphasis on the role that higher welfare broiler chicken production can play in addressing the most pressing issues.

In the past ten years, labeling initiatives informing consumers on farm animal welfare in food production
have emerged in the EU Member States. Today, there are a dozen labeling schemes pertaining to farm animal welfare in at least six Member States. Eurogroup for Animals supports the adoption of a “Method-of-Production + label,” which is a label that would combine method-of-production marking with simple information on animal welfare, based on a core set of animal welfare indicators. To ensure full transparency to consumers, the scope of an animal welfare-related label should further cover the entire supply chain: breeding, fattening, transport, and slaughter.

This report builds on the 2019 call by the European Parliament echoed by the European Commission, to formulate a strategy to shift to meat and carcasses as well as the semen and embryos trade. This trade is already a reality and should be systematically promoted and implemented for animal health and welfare, economics and environmental reasons. To this end, this report highlights potential policy, structural
and financial initiatives that, by negating the drivers of live trade, should be taken into account in developing a strategy to shift to a meat and carcasses-only trade.

While the transition away from caged to cage-free systems is a positive step for the welfare of laying hens,
the design and management of cage-free housing have an important impact on animal welfare and need to
be taken into account when managing the transition. The main aim of this document is to highlight aspects
of cage-free egg production that require special attention to protect animal welfare, and gives some recommendations that can be useful for policy makers and industry stakeholders for maximising the welfare of laying hens in cage-free systems.