These calls surely show that Canadians care about the treatment of animals.
Our work to protect farm animals primarily focuses on the use of intensive confinement systems such as battery cages for laying hens and gestation stalls for breeding sows. As you'll see in the presentation, Canadians truly care about the treatment of farm animals in these systems. Indeed, polling confirms that the majority of Canadians want farm animals to be well cared for.
A 2008 report by the Commission sur l'avenir de l'agriculture et de l'agroalimentation québécois stated that consumers are increasingly concerned about animal welfare and want nothing to do with products from mistreated animals. The same report specifically noted the possibility of European countries taking action if Canadian agriculture failed to meet improved welfare standards.
A report filed with the commission, l'Ordre des médecins vétérinaires du Québec, emphasized that Quebec needs to improve farm animal welfare in order to avoid future trade ramifications. This point is particularly relevant for the $3 billion Canadian pork industry, which exports over 50% of the pork it produces. An investment of funds from Growing Forward 2 to assist producers in transitioning to group housing for breeding sows would avoid potential trade losses for failing to move away from the industry's use of intensive confinement systems.
We know that consumers want more information on how farm animals are raised. Mandatory labelling of cage eggs is already used in countries around the world. These labels, mandatory in parts of Australia since 2010, have increased sales of cage-free eggs by 90% in some stores. In the European Union, mandatory labelling of eggs with the method of production used was required from 2004 to January of this year when a ban on the use of battery cages came into effect. In the United States, mandatory labelling has been proposed as part of the Egg Products Inspection Act amendments of 2012, which were presented to the United States Congress last month, jointly supported by the United Egg Producers and our partner association, the Humane Society of the United States.
This is a labelling system that has been successfully trialled by a Canadian grocery chain that is currently taking steps to introduce the labels in all of their stores. In the first two months alone, sales of cage eggs fell by almost 4%, whereas cage-free and certified organic sales increased by 7% and 14% respectively. Importantly, the signage did not have a negative impact on total egg sales, which increased by 1.2%.
In the United States we see a similar concern for farm animal welfare amongst consumers. A national phone survey conducted on consumer preferences for farm animal welfare found that 95% of people belive that farm animals should be well cared for.
In a study conducted by Technomic, a food industry research body, animal welfare was rated as the third most important social issue amongst restaurant patrons, 58% of whom said that animal welfare was important to them. Animal welfare ranked ahead of environmental issues, fair trade, local sourcing, and the use of organic products. What this survey tells us isn't that these issues aren't important to consumers, because we all know they are; what it highlights is the extent to which consumers believe that treating animals humanely matters. Consumers care about animal welfare because they know it's wrong to keep animals in cages so small that they can barely move.
This is a barren battery cage for laying hens.
In gestation crates, breeding sows are likewise kept in intensive confinement.
Consumers care deeply about these issues, but are they hopeless cases? No. Systems exist and are successfully used all over the world that offer laying hens and breeding sows much higher levels of welfare than are currently used on most Canadian farms.
As alternatives to gestation crates, group housing systems allow breeding sows the chance to move around, interact with other animals, and generally enjoy more freedoms. This is not an idyllic pasture environment, but it is a huge step up, and consumers agree that it should be the bare minimum standard afforded to animals in agriculture.
Likewise for laying hens. This is a free-run system. The hens are housed indoors in a barn environment. Just taking the hens out of these cages without any access to the outdoors changes the lives of these hens completely, and consumers know this, and they're prepared to pay more.
It isn't only consumers who believe that it's important to treat animals right. Scientists, animal welfare experts, and public figures all agree. Amongst others, the Dalai Lama, the Pope, and Oprah Winfrey have all spoken out against the intensive confinement of farm animals.
Dr. Temple Grandin, probably the most famous animal welfare expert in the world today, has said that gestation stalls must be phased out.
The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, a review conducted by a prestigious group of scientists, veterinarians, animal welfare experts, environmental experts, and others, recommended the phase-out of all intensive confinement systems.
The New York Times condemned intensive confinement as being cruel and senseless.
Last year The Globe and Mail reported on increasing consumer concerns for the welfare of farm animals and the changes these concerns are bringing to industry practices and also to companies.
Indeed, thanks to support for improved animal welfare from consumers, scientists, and public figures, and also because it is the right thing to do, companies are changing.
All of these major restaurant chains, food providers, supermarkets, travel companies, and brands have taken steps to improve their animal welfare policies by increasing their use or sales of cage-free eggs and/or crate-free pork.
In the U.S., major supermarket chains Walmart and Costco have switched their home brands to exclusively cage-free eggs, and Loblaws has recently committed to doing the same in Canada.
Well-known brands such as Kraft, Sara Lee, Barilla, and Krispy Kreme have increased their use of cage-free eggs.
Travel companies and food providers are also part of this movement, including Compass Group, the world’s largest food provider; Hyatt hotels; and Virgin America airlines.
Restaurants are leading the way in this consumer movement. Burger King, Subway, Starbucks, IHOP, Wendy’s, and Quiznos all use cage-free eggs in their products. Just this month the largest restaurant chain in the world, McDonald's, announced that in addition to their use of cage-free eggs, they will be phasing out the use of crated pork in their supply chain, stating:
McDonald’s believes gestation stalls are not a sustainable production system for the future. There are alternatives that we think are better for the welfare of sows.
Kraft has publicly acknowledged that their motivation for improving their animal welfare policy is to meet the expectations and address the concerns of their consumers.
Unilever, the world’s third-largest consumer goods company, promotes the need for the more ethical sourcing of eggs on their website. In addition to acknowledging the improved welfare that laying hens experience in cage-free systems, the website notes that their consumers prefer the taste of products made with cage-free eggs.
Unilever and their customers feel so strongly about this issue that one of Unilever’s products, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, is being advertised to the public based on the use of cage-free eggs. The cage-free egg symbol also appears on the product itself, featured on Hellmann’s jars.
La fédération des producteurs d'oeufs de consommation du Québec recently announced that in order to meet Hellmann’s demand they are launching a pilot project, allowing an additional 25,000 layers to be raised cage-free in Quebec.
American restaurant Sonic summed up the current sentiment amongst so many corporations best when they said that preventing abuse to animals was not only a part of corporate responsibility but was simply the right thing to do.
Thank you very much.