Superlist Animal Welfare 2021

Dec 14, 2021

Which supermarkets are taking the lead?

Supermarkets play an important role in the transition to a more animal-friendly diet. For Superlijst Animal Welfare we therefore investigated the following two topics:

  • Do supermarkets encourage the sale of more animal-friendly meat, dairy, egg and fish products?
  • Do supermarkets encourage eating less animal food?

These are the main findings.

Supermarkets place responsibility for more animal-friendly with their customers.

Supermarkets do not yet take full responsibility for the welfare of animals behind the products they offer. The actual measures taken by supermarkets are difficult to compare; policy and reporting are often incomplete or not formulated in comparable terms and not all commitments from the past have been met

Supermarkets are not yet aiming to reduce the sale of animal products

None of the supermarkets in this study, with the exception of Ekoplaza, are aiming to reduce the sale of animal products. Reporting and objectives are usually limited to encouraging the purchase of meat substitutes and other alternatives.

Lidl and Albert Heijn provide global insight into the share of animal products in their sales but have not yet set a target for reducing the sale of animal products.

Which supermarkets are taking the lead?

Based on the research results and the weighting, a ranking of the supermarkets was prepared. The ranking shows which supermarkets belong to the Front runners (green), the laggards (red) and which are average (yellow) according to how well they help their customers to make a choice that contributes to better animal welfare (left side graph) and how they aim for the reduction of the sale of animal products (right side graph).

Partner

For this research, we collaborated with World Animal Protection. Prior to the research, supermarkets were given the opportunity to provide feedback on the research method.

Funding

This Superlist was funded by Questionmark Foundation, Doen Foundation, and World Animal Protection.

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