Marks & Spencer announced today, in a first for a major UK retailer, that it will stop selling imported white veal and calves liver. From January 2008, the retailer will only sell high-welfare UK rosé veal. In the meantime, from 10 October, white veal will be removed from store. Calves liver is also being banned as it comes from the animals reared for white veal.
Calves reared for UK produced rosé veal are fed whole milk, eat a natural diet and are group housed with straw bedding in well-lit barns throughout the rearing period. UK rosé veal is pink in colour rather than white and its high welfare standards are backed by Compassion in World Farming and the RSPCA.
Philip Lymbery, Chief Executive of Compassion in World Farming has welcomed the move, saying: ‘This is fantastic news. M&S has again raised the bar on animal welfare by committing to stock only higher-welfare UK-reared rosé veal. Not only that, all the bull calves used for their welfare-friendly veal will be supplied by one of their own dairy farmers. This is a great example of how retailers can work with their suppliers to find humane uses for bull calves.’
Dr Julia Wrathall, head of the RSPCA's Farm Animals Department, said: "The RSPCA is delighted by and strongly welcomes this news which is an important step forward for calf welfare. In many cases, the way the calves are reared abroad simply does not satisfy their welfare needs. M&S has clearly demonstrated that it is possible to replace this trade by rearing these calves in the UK. We hope those supermarkets who have yet to address this issue will adopt a similar policy. The RSPCA and CIWF are working with M&S and the food and farming industries through the Beyond Calf Exports forum to achieve this.”
M&S will source its rosé veal from a family run farm in Lothian who have been members of the M&S dairy pool since the introduction of the M&S Milk Pledge in 2002.
Making the announcement today, Steven Esom, Director of Food at Marks & Spencer said: “High animal welfare is at the heart of our business which is why we have taken the lead on banning white veal and calves liver from our stores. Our decision to move to UK rose veal has been welcomed by the CIWF and RSPCA.”
M&S milestones
Since 2002 we have only used free range eggs in all our food – the only UK food retailer to do so
All our fresh duck and geese are free range and all M&S fresh turkeys will be free range and sourced from the UK this Christmas
Our Oakham chicken has adopted the RSPCA welfare standard’s stocking density of 30kg/m2
Our Muir Den pork is 100% British and produced from outdoor bred pigs
The M&S Milk Pledge, in addition to paying farmers and fixed and industry leading price for their milk, rewards them for good performance on animal welfare
In 2007 we invested £250,000 to develop a database which records and shares among our producers data on dairy herd performance, including information on herd health and welfare status
In 2007 we announced the first M&S Organic beef contract, to provide security for farmers converting to Organic production.
We maintain our policy of only selling food made with non-GM ingredients
M&S fish and seafood is recognised as a world leader on welfare and sustainability, topping the MCS supermarket league for sustainable fish in 2006 and 2007.
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