Our approach to animal welfare starts at the farm. We go to great lengths to work with the best farmers – those dedicated to quality who take good care of their animals. We were the first retailer to develop our own standards – M&S Select Farms – back in the early 90’s and we’ve carried on improving our standards ever since.
Today, our M&S Select Farms standards set rigorous requirements for animal welfare that exceed standard industry practice and legislation. Every one of our 12,500 farmers, in every country we source from, must meet our standards to produce M&S Food.
We’re proud that our approach to animal welfare has been recognised by organisations such as the RSPCA and that we’ve topped the Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare every year since 2013.
As we continue to deliver new lower prices through investing in partnerships and reducing production costs, our customers can trust we will never compromise on the quality of our products or the welfare of our farmers and their animals.
What we stand for: some of our key achievements
100% free range eggs
RSPCA Assured fresh milk
100% traceable beef back to the farm and animal it came from. All our Beef is British.
M&S Oakham Gold chicken are higher welfare RSPCA Assured using slower-reared breeds with 20% more space than the industry norm, natural daylight, perches and pecking objects
No white veal, rose veal only bred to RSPCA backed welfare standards
100% free range geese, no foie-gras
Welfare: A priority at every stage
Our standards for animal welfare cover every stage of an animal’s life. They include a good diet and easy access to fresh water, adequate shelter and a comfortable resting area, sufficient space and quick treatment if an animal gets sick or injured. All animals must be killed in the most-humane way possible, to keep pain and stress to the minimum. We want all the animals in our supply to chain to experience a life worth living.
Our dedicated team of agricultural and fisheries specialists work with each and every one of our Select Farms to keep improving. We check how our farmers are doing through regular visits and audits and we support them to measure and improve animal health and welfare.
Improving standards on chicken farms
We have an M&S Select Farm standard for every species used to produce M&S products, and we keep updating and improving them. For example, our fresh Oakham chickens benefit from 20% extra space compared to industry standards, windows for natural daylight and features that provide a more natural living environment such as bales for perching and objects they can peck.
Now we’ve signed the Better Chicken Commitment, launched by animal welfare organisations from across Europe. We already meet some requirements for our Oakham range, but will now go even further to meet the high welfare criteria. That includes providing more space for every chicken and switching to breeds that grow more slowly. We will also apply the same standards to the chicken we use as an ingredient in our prepared foods. We’re one of the first retailers to have signed up and we will meet its criteria by 2026.
We know where our food comes from
We know and trust all our farmers and can trace our products back to the farm where the animal was reared. That’s one of the reasons we weren’t affected by the horsemeat scandal in 2013.
For our beef, we have even more rigorous DNA-based traceability requirements so we know which animal was used to produce every bit of beef we sell. That means we’re confident that all M&S fresh beef comes from cattle reared to high welfare standards and fed a wholesome diet to maintain optimum health.
We have high standards for cattle used in the dairy industry too. We were the first major retailer to switch all our fresh milk to RSPCA standards for animal welfare – the highest in the dairy industry.
Want to meet our farmers?
On our interactive map, you can see some of the many farmers we work with around the world including those producing our fresh milk and beef. We plan to extend our map to include farmers who supply us with meat, poultry and eggs too.Keep on improving
We believe collaboration is key. That’s why we work with external advisers and NGOs and align to external standards such as those developed by the UK Farm Animal Welfare Committee and the Humane Slaughter Association.
For example, our M&S Select Farm salmon and trout comes from farms that meet RSPCA Assured farming standards. That includes good water quality, fewer fish per farm and careful handling procedures to reduce stress. Working with industry experts we developed a training course on fish and shrimp welfare, which is followed by all our aquaculture suppliers. We have topped the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS’s) Supermarket Seafood Survey most years it has run since it started in 2006 and Greenpeace’s tinned tuna league table.
A more secure future for farming
Farming is a challenging business and farmers need a secure income to support their investment in animal welfare. To get the best from our farmers, we need to be there to support them too.
One example we’re particularly proud of is the M&S Milk Pool, founded in 1999. Through this scheme we pay our pool farmers a price above the cost of production and one of the highest prices of any high-street store or supermarket. It gives our dairy farmers the stability they need to invest for the future. When we launched the Milk Pool it was an industry first and today has 44 farms spread across the UK delivering regionally sourced fresh milk into M&S stores and cafés.
We’re also supporting British sheep farmers through our Speciality Lamb range. This means we buy lamb year round, including out of season, supporting small-scale family farms from across the UK.
What’s next?
We recognise that consumers are increasingly looking to reduce their meat intake, with one in five M&S customer households cooking for a vegetarian or flexitarian. That’s why we’re continually developing Plant Kitchen, our popular range of delicious vegan-friendly dishes which are high in plant protein.
We’re proud to have received 10 awards from Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) since 2002, including their Cage Free Award in 2017. But we aren’t complacent, and we’ll keep on working with our farmers and others to improve our standards even further.