RSPCA Freedom Food

Freedom Food is a food-labelling scheme from the RSPCA that aims to improve the welfare of farm animals reared for food every year in the UK

**Has the meat you eat been issued with the RSPCA’s animal welfare stamp?**

Freedom Food is a food-labelling scheme from the RSPCA that aims to improve the welfare of farm animals reared for food every year in the UK. If you can see the logo displayed on this page on the meat, fish and dairy products that you buy, you can be confident that the farm involved has reared its animals to meet the RSPCA’s strict welfare standards. 

The standard ensures that animals are provided with a comfortable environment and enough space to grow healthily. Chickens and turkeys need plenty of stimulation in their living environment such as straw bales and perches to sit on and peck at, whilst beef cattle need plenty of room to move freely when they are indoors, so the Freedom Food standard expressly prohibits tethering of the animal.

The standard also impacts on dairy cattle promoting a high level of hygiene to reduce mastitis – a painful infection that can be spread by poor hygiene standards and incorrect milking techniques.
 
The Freedom Food standard also ensures that animals are not subjected to stressful conditions, ensuring that salmon are kept in un-crowded, high quality water environments and pigs are always kept in contact with one another to prevent isolation. 

The RPSCA have also enlisted the help of a whole host of celebrity chefs who have supported the scheme in compiling a recipe collection that promotes the use of Freedom Food products.

Raymond Blanc, Ainsley Harriott and Antony Worrell Thompson are just a handful of chefs involved in the scheme. “One of the most effective things we, the public can do to support better farm animal welfare is to use our consumer power to encourage retailers to stock welfare-assured products” said Antony Worrell Thompson. 

Over 900 million animals are reared for food consumption every year in the UK, so purchasing products that bear the Freedom Food logo will help to ensure that an increasing number of farmers sign up to the scheme. The RSPCA is also using the scheme to demonstrate to the farming industry that higher welfare standards can be achieved in commercial and small-scale farming.  

So next time you’re in the supermarket, look out for the Freedom Food logo on the products you choose and use your buying power to raise animal welfare standards.  

For more information and to find out which shops and supermarkets stock Freedom Food labelled products, visit: http://www.freedomfood.co.uk.