Current EU food policies encourage intensive animal production and unhealthy, unsustainable eating habits. Instead of being respected as sentient beings, farm animals are often treated as tools to maximise production and profit.
A trend towards factory farming that prioritises large outputs over concerns like animal welfare, public health and the environment has led to the widespread use of damaging farming systems that negatively impact animals, people and the planet.
In the factory farming model, animals are selectively bred for traits that are ‘desirable’ for meat, egg or milk production, to the detriment of their health and welfare. Often, they are raised in awful conditions that do not respect their needs or natures, leading to immense suffering across the sector.
For their sake, and that of planetary and public health, there is an urgent need to change the food system at a fundamental level. The production and consumption of plant-based products must be prioritised in EU legislation, along with a shift to 'less and better' animal products, in which ‘less’ animal products are produced and consumed, and those that are come from ‘better’ sources underpinned by the highest animal welfare and environmental standards.
Innovations in food technology, such as new plant-based substitutes and cultivated meat, provide compelling alternatives to the consumption of animal-based food from intensive animal production as well.
Cellular agriculture creates meat from cells rather than from slaughtered animals. Because cultivated meat is grown outside the body of an animal, fewer animals are needed compared to the billions of animals currently used in conventional animal farming. Moreover, the few animals used in cellular agriculture are less likely to undergo transportation, which evidence shows heavily affects their welfare. Healthier and more robust traditional breeds can be raised, and they can fulfil an ecological role by grazing without the need for slaughter.
drop in greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved by 2050 by widespread lifestyle changes (including diet change)
of the effects of climate change can be attributed directly to greenhouse gases from meat and dairy production
of diet-related diseases can be traced back to overconsumption of red meat
WHAT DOES THE PUBLIC THINK?
The 2023 Eurobarometer survey found that “six in ten Europeans look for labels identifying products sourced from animal welfare-friendly farming systems when buying food products”.
It also found that while the perceived choice of animal welfare-friendly food products in shops and supermarkets has improved, “four in ten (43%) are still not satisfied with it.”
There is also an increased interest in plant-based food across the EU. “Sales of plant-based foods across 13 European countries have grown by 21%” between 2020-2022, “with the category reaching a record €5.8 billion”, according to the Good Food Institute Europe’s analysis of NielsenIQ data. “In 2022, plant-based milk had an 11% market share of the total milk category.”
Cultivated meat is still not approved for sale in the EU, so consumer attitudes are based on surveys. Research indicates that most consumers are willing to try cultivated meat and many would eat it regularly,with several positive responses referencing animal welfare, as well as the environment, food security and public health.
POLICY - STATE OF PLAY
In 2020, the European Commission announced its Farm to Fork strategy, through which it aimed to address the EU’s food system challenges via a comprehensive set of new policy initiatives, including a Framework law for Sustainable Food Systems (FSFS).
The FSFS was expected to shape EU food production and consumption long into the future, fostering a transition to a healthy, fair and environmentally friendly food system centering healthy and plant-rich diets with ‘less and better’ animal products. Unfortunately, multiple factors have blocked this law from being realised, and support for green policies has plummeted.
The European Commission must not give up. We are calling for the swift publication of this framework law, and the inclusion of measures that honour both the link between animal welfare and the sustainability of the EU’s food systems, as well as the power of ‘food environments’ which evidence shows impact what citizens choose to buy and consume. Such inclusions will require the FSFS to push low animal welfare products out of the market, set rules to reduce the advertising and promotion of low animal welfare products, introduce compulsory sustainability labelling and more.
