Good News! YES to CCTV in slaughterhouses.

Source.

Excellent news!  Animal Aid has reported that despite the government being reluctant to encourage slaughterhouses to install CCTV, supermarkets Morrisons, Waitrose, Sainsbury's, the Co-op, Asda, Lidl, Tesco, Iceland, Marks & Spencer and the wholesalers Booker, have all agreed to only deal with slaughterhouses that have independently monitored CCTV cameras installed.

Animal Aid is now working with the supermarket chains to ensure that the footage taken is monitored properly and that any incidents that break the law are dealt with effectively.

Do you remember back in November when we were contacting the supermarkets to ask them to consider this?  Isn't it great to have a success!

Animal Aid reports that one slaughterhouse has actually closed down due to their exposé which also resulted into legal action against nine workers and four slaughterhouse operators.  The case was dropped in September 2010 by Defra but most of the workers will not be allowed to slaughter again.

Another positive development is that the University of Bristol are using the footage obtained in order to train vets and Soil Association inspectors and government agencies and veterinary bodies are discussing how to implement changes to improve animal welfare in slaughterhouses.

This campaign has brought the horror of slaughter to the attention of the public and has also encouraged many people to adopt a meat free diet.

Source.

Congratulations to Sainsburys!

Sainsbury's have been awarded BUAV Approval (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection).  From April, all of Sainsbury's own brand cosmetics and toiletries is allowed to carry the cruelty-free Leaping Bunny logo.  

Other well-known high street names include Marks and Spencer, Co-operative and Superdrug.

 You will first notice the Leaping Bunny logo on all Sainbury’s shower and hand care products but it is scheduled to roll out across the entire range throughout the year.

BUAV said "Qualifying for certification is a rigorous and stringent process.  As well as guaranteeing that no product or ingredient has been tested on animals from a verifiable date, each applicant must also be open to an independent audit throughout its supply chain to ensure that they adhere to their animal testing policy and the Standard's strict criteria."

Judith Batchelar, Director of Sainsbury's Brand, said: “Animal welfare continues to be one of our customers’ top concerns, so it is great news that we have been awarded BUAV certification. The Leaping Bunny is the most widely recognised and respected endorsement for products that are free from animal testing and will now be shown on over 200 products in our own brand cosmetics and toiletries range. We are very pleased to accept BUAV certification and to be able to offer this clear choice to our customers.”

For a complete list of BUAV approved products please visit this link 

DON'T FORGET!

Say NO to cruel cosmetics in the EU! Please sign BUAV's petition

CCTV in Abbatoirs Update

 Source.

Since Animal Aid's campaign for CCTV to be fitted in all British slaughterhouses began, six major supermarkets have agreed to install CCTV in their abattoirs and insist their suppliers do the same.  The six companies have also promised to allow independant monitoring of the footage gained from the CCTV.  The campaign is not over yet, Animal Aid intend on using their success with Morrisons, Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Tesco, the Co-op and Marks & Spencer to put pressure on the supermarkets that have not agreed to the CCTV proposal.  It is vital that the supermarkets do agree to this since they are the slaughterhouses' main customers.

How to help

Click here and order some postcards and a letter writing guidance sheet from Animal Aid to help with the campaign.

CCTV in Abattoirs ~ Supermarket Responses (so far).

Further to this post about the welfare of animals in slaughterhouses, I am happy to say that I have heard back from the following supermarkets; Sainsburys, Asda and Waitrose.  Here is what they had to say...

Sainsburys 

"Thanks for contacting us about animal welfare in slaughterhouses.  I can certainly appreciate your concerns, given the footage filmed by Animal Aid.

I’d like to assure you that animal welfare is of paramount importance to us and we have a longstanding commitment to ensure all animals used in our products are treated humanely and with the utmost respect.   We have been recognised by Compassion in World Farming who recently awarded us Best Volume Retailer, providing the best animal welfare amongst the major UK supermarkets.

We work very closely with our suppliers to ensure they meet our high standards and use existing and new technology to support our commitments.

A number of our abattoirs already have CCTV cameras in place to enable us to monitor the standards at slaughter.  We are working with the remaining abattoirs to get CCTV installed as soon as possible.

I hope that my email assures you of our commitment to animal welfare and that you’ll be able to shop with us in confidence.

Kind regards

Lorna Clarkson
Customer Manager"

I'm happy with this response and will check early next year to see how things are going with fitting the CCTV in remaining abattoirs.

Waitrose

"Thank you for your e-mail.

Outstanding animal welfare is a priority for Waitrose.  All of our slaughter facilities are managed to the very highest standards and are approved and regularly audited by the Humane Slaughter Association.  We also work to recommendations laid down by both the RSPCA and Compassion in World Farming (CiWF).

I would like to take this opportunity to reassure you that we are leaders in this field and have consistently been recognised for our approach having recently been named as ‘Most Compassionate Supermarket’ by CiWF.

I hope that this information is of assistance.

Regards,

Susan Sharman
Waitrose Customer Sales and Support"

Not so happy with this response as it completely avoids the questions and fails to mention CCTV at all, I will respond to this asking again about CCTV.

Asda  

"Thanks for contacting us with your enquiry.

At the moment we do not require our suppliers to have CCTV in their abattoirs.

However, we are reviewing our position on this and a new policy is being drawn up to request that our abattoirs do have CCTV monitoring them. This policy will come in to effect in 2011.

The footage from the CCTV's will be used as a management tool to assist in the training of colleagues and to ensure that animal welfare practices are followed as required.

We believe that we do have very good animal welfare practices and monitor there implementation when we audit our suppliers.

Every member of our meat, poultry and fish technical team are animal, poultry or fish welfare officers who have been trained by the vets at Bristol University.

I hope this helps and if I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Kind regards

Claire Brant
ASDA Service Team"  

I am pleased with this response from Asda but do worry WHEN in 2011 the policy will come into affect so will contact them again along with Sainsburys to check on how things stand early next year.

Marks and Spencer

"Thank you for your email about the UK slaughterhouses and the welfare of animals at the time of slaughter.

We are committed to ensuring all our livestock suppliers maintain very high standards of animal welfare. Our codes of practice cover the welfare of animals at every stage - on the farm, during transport, and at the time of slaughter.

We liaise closely with the RSPCA about animal welfare. Following their call for action earlier this year, we are re-issuing our codes of practice for livestock production to ensure they reflect best animal welfare practice.

We will require all our slaughterhouses to install CCTV. We will also stipulate that footage is independently monitored to ensure our welfare requirements are met and maintained at the time of slaughter. This will be in line with the requirements of the RSPCA Welfare Standards.

I hope this explains our position and demonstrates our commitment to high standards of animal welfare.

Kind Regards

Mike Thompson"

Another good response, so will be adding Marks and Spencer to the list to contact early next year.

Now to let RSPCA know what the Supermarkets said here.  Noteably absent from responses so far is Tesco, Lidl and Aldi.

Improving Animal Welfare in Slaughterhouses

Animal Aid released images showing cruelty in some abattoirs earlier this year which has prompted the RSPCA to shout louder for mandatory CCTV in all British abattoirs in the hope of improving animal welfare as well as the monitoring and enforcement of legalisation.  Slaughterhouses currently approved by the RSPCA's Freedom Food label have CCTV installed already and the RSPCA think that the biggest buyers of meat from abattoirs - Supermarkets - changed their policty to only source from abattoirs with CCTV it would really make a difference and prompt slaughterhouses to make the decision to install CCTV. 

Read more about the RSPCA's involvement with slaughterhouses.

How to help

(Aside from becoming vegetarian or vegan and not eating meat) Ask shops and supermarkets if they have a policy of only sourcing meat from CCTV regulated abattoirs (contact details below and template e-mail to follow)  Let the RSPCA know what your response is here

Join Animal Aid's campaign

Contacting Supermarkets:

Aldi

Asda

Lidl

Marks and Spencer

Sainsbury

Tesco

Waitrose

If you don't receive a response look for the supermarkets Facebook or Twitter pages and ask there as well, chances are they will respond.

UPDATE! (23/11/2010)

I have removed Morrisons from the list of supermarkets as they have now agreed to install CCTV in all it's abattoirs!  Read about it here.


Template e-mail as promised...

Dear Sir/Madam,

As a customer of your Supermarket I am interested in what your views are about the possibility of mandatory CCTV being fitted in all British abattoirs to improve animal welfare and monitor and enforce legalisation?  Earlier this year images were released showing cruelty to animals in some abattoirs and this has greatly disturbed me therefore it is important to me to hear your views on this subject and to find out whether you would support mandatory CCTV being fitted in abattoirs where you source your meat?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,