Despite widespread belief that wording like ‘farm fresh’ and ‘responsibly sourced’ means animals had a better life prior to slaughter, the truth is far more traumatic.
A new report has highlighted significant confusion over the nature of meat and animal produce labelling, and what this means about how the livestock was kept. Now a campaign has launched, with significant backing from the public, demanding more robust and simpler laws dictating how specific wording is used in this context.
More and more consumers are becoming concerned about animal welfare in the food industry, and believe they are not being given enough information to make informed choices between different products. Whereas price and ingredients can be easily verified at the point of purchase, the same is not true of labelling relating to the treatment of livestock by farmers and industrial-scale producers.
By switching to mandatory regulation for Method of Production labelling (MoP), the UK Government can help increase trust in the food industry which successive studies have found is currently in decline. Alongside worries about welfare, the use of pesticides and other additives has also contributed to scepticism towards the claims made on food packaging. In one 2025 survey conducted by FOUR PAWS UK, 80% of shoppers wanted to see more responsible and accurate wording introduced.
‘Most people assume the information on a food label tells them something meaningful about the life an animal led. Too often, that simply isn’t the case. When shoppers are standing in front of a supermarket shelf, they should be able to tell, at a mere glance, the difference between one product and another,’ said Emily Wilson, Head of Programmes at FOUR PAWS UK.
‘The public have made it clear that animal welfare matters to them, but are being asked to make decisions on inconsistent, confusing and misleading claims,’ she continued. ‘Consumers deserve honest, straightforward information. Farmers who are already investing in higher welfare deserve recognition for the standards they’re setting. Most importantly, animals deserve a system that encourages a better standard of life.’
Image: NighthawStudio / Unsplash
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