Aramark expands animal welfare commitments to Europe

Food and facilities service provider, Aramark, has expanded its animal welfare policy to include Europe.

Aramark provides food and facility services to the education industry, including schools, colleges and universities. The company is a founding member of the Global Coalition for Animal Welfare (GCAW), the world’s first food industry-led initiative aimed at advancing animal welfare globally. Improving broiler chicken welfare is one of the key priorities of the coalition.

The Broiler Chicken Commitment was introduced in USA and Canada in 2016. The humane treatment of broiler chickens will now include Europe. It forms part of a long-standing commitment to advancing responsible sourcing in a way that minimises impacts to people, animals and the environment.

“We are proud of our industry-leading Animal Welfare Policy and the significant progress we’ve made across the industry,” says a spokesperson from Aramark. “As we learn from our experiences in the United States, we will expand these learnings to the other countries where we operate.

“By 2026, we will require our European suppliers to meet the following requirements for 100% of the fresh, frozen, and processed chicken in our supply chain.”

By 2026, Aramark’s European suppliers will be required to comply with all EU animal welfare laws and regulations, regardless of the country of production. They will also be required to implement a maximum stocking density of 30kg/m2 or less. Thinning is discouraged and if practiced must be limited to one thin per flock.

In addition, they will be required to adopt breeds that demonstrate higher welfare outcomes that meet the criteria of the RSPCA Broiler Breed Welfare Assessment Protocol, meet improved environmental standards including natural light and enrichment and adopt controlled atmospheric stunning using inert gas or multi-phase systems, or effective electrical stunning without live inversion.

The suppliers will need to demonstrate compliance with the above standards via third-party auditing and annual public reporting.