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Perhaps the most effective way to stop factory farming in Europe would be for consumers to stop buying the meat and dairy products that come from these operations.

This sounds simple enough. After all, most Europeans do not want to eat food that comes from facilities that house tens or even hundreds of thousands of animals in filthy conditions. In factory farms, cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, turkeys, and other livestock are crammed into dirty, crowded structures where they are fed and injected with all manner of artificial substances. The result is unwholesome, unnatural foods that endanger public health and the wellbeing of animals.

Until now, consumers have had little way of knowing whether the food they buy in stores comes from such places. Fortunately, this could change soon.

The European Commission is drafting new labelling rules that would help consumers make more informed decisions about the food they buy. The Commission is considering an animal welfare labelling system that would tell consumers whether meat and dairy products come from factory-style operations or small-scale, sustainable farms.

Such a system is already in place for eggs. Since 2004, consumers have been able to avoid factory-raised eggs thanks to a rule requiring them to be labelled “free range,” “barn eggs” or “eggs from caged hens.” A voluntary system also exists for free-range poultry.

Now, the EC is considering a labelling regime for all meat and dairy products. Europeans not only want such a system, they also believe it would be a powerful way to vote with their Euro.

According to a recent EU-sponsored survey, three-fourths of Europeans believe their purchasing behaviour can improve animal welfare practices on farms. And nearly two-thirds said they would change their shopping habits to buy humanely raised products. As it is, more than half say they are willing to pay more for humanely produced eggs, and nearly half say they consider animal welfare when buying meat.

But as it stands now, more than half of consumers say they can very rarely or never determine production methods by reading food labels.

To help consumers (and animals), the Commission is considering a system requiring meat and dairy products to be la-belled according to how they were produced. The EC is weighing a system that would only permit food to be labelled animal-friendly if livestock is raised in keeping with the “Five Freedoms,” also known as the

“Five Necessities”

• Freedom from hunger, thirst, and malnutrition.
• Freedom from physical, and thermal discomfort.
• Freedom from pain, injury, and disease.
• Freedom to express normal behaviour.
• Freedom from fear and distress.

Europeans’ concerns for the well-being of farm animals is rapidly growing, not only for the sake of animals but also for their own sake. Mad cow disease, bird flu, foot-and-mouth disease, swine fever, and many other livestock ailments have been traced to industrial farming practices. Consumers understand that unsafe, unhealthy animal husbandry can result in unsafe, unhealthy food.

Despite consumers’ growing awareness and demand for reform, the Five Freedoms are often ignored. Many unseemly practices continue at large-scale industrial operations.

Pigs are often denied ample sleeping and exercise space and access to wallows or showers. Female pigs can be kept in sow stalls. These bare cages – about 1 meter wide and 2 meters long – prevent pigs from turning around, thus maximising the number of sows per cage, increasing pregnancy rates and litter size, and reducing labour costs. These devices have been banned in Sweden and the UK, but an EU-wide ban is not scheduled until 2013, and an exception will be permitted for the first four weeks of pregnancy. The painful practices of tail docking, teeth clipping and castration are also commonplace.

Dairy cows can be raised in “zero-grazing systems.” Instead of walking the land and eating as nature intended, cows are kept in stalls and their food is brought to them. Denied access to pastureland, they essentially become “udders on legs.” This practice makes it easier to raise high-yield breeds such as Holsteins, which under these conditions can suffer from bloat, liver abscesses, and sudden death.

Beef cattle often live on uncomfortable concrete slats during winter, particularly in Ireland. Some live in these conditions year-round. Calves raised for veal meat also are permitted to be housed on slats without bedding.

Based on their prevailing opinions and buying habits, many Europeans would be highly averse to buying pork products labelled “From castrated pigs,” or milk labelled “From cows that have no access to pasture.”

If Europeans stopped buying meat and dairy products from animals raised under these conditions, factory-style opera-tions would have difficulty staying in business. Alternatively, if more consumers bought food from farms that avoid these practices and respect the Five Freedoms, small-scale, family operations would enjoy soaring demand for their products. Not only would food quality and animal welfare improve, but water, air, and soil pollution commonly caused by industrial farms would be reduced.

This transformation is possible, but only if the European Commission proposes a labelling system for meat and dairy products that is clear, mandatory, and reflective of meaningful, quantifiable animal welfare standards. The Commission is expected to send its proposal to the European Parliament and European Council for their consideration by the end of 2007.

What You Can Do…

Tell the European Commission you want all meat and dairy products to be labelled according to how they were produced. Tell the EC this labelling should be mandatory and clear, and subject to government monitoring and in-spection. Only foods from animals raised according to the letter and the spirit of the Five Freedoms should be la-belled animal-friendly.

Send your comments to Alexandra Nikolakopoulou by E-mail: alexandra.nikolakopoulou@ec.europa.eu or by post:

Alexandra Nikolakopoulou
European Commission
DG SANCO
Rue Froissart 101 – Office 9/22
1040 Brussels
Belgium