To truly Know the Story of RSPCA Approved and how we work to continually improve farm animal welfare, it’s important to acknowledge the brands that have led the way by making higher welfare foods are readily available to their customers. Without the brands that source these higher welfare products, certified producers committed to rearing animals to a better welfare standard lack an avenue for their produce and in turn, consumers won’t easily find proteins that come from animals raised to higher welfare standards. This is why businesses like Coles are a key part of the cycle that helps to drive demand for more higher-welfare food options.
Coles has featured RSPCA Approved products on their shelves since 2014 – starting with chicken and then adding free-range pork and turkey, ensuring that Australians around the country can add RSPCA Approved products to their weekly shopping lists. When businesses like Coles promote and sell higher-welfare foods, this helps drive demand and results in more producers rearing animals to a higher-welfare standard than is legally required, meaning a better quality of life for millions of farm animals.
Today, Coles offers free-range and barn-raised chicken, free-range and barn-raised turkey and free-range pork, all sourced from farms with RSPCA Approved certification. It’s the only supermarket to offer free-range RSPCA Approved pork and the only retailer to have free-range RSPCA Approved ham at Christmas. Finding these products at Coles is easy, just look for the RSPCA Approved logo on pack.
With many of us in planning mode for holiday celebrations, it’s reassuring to know that many higher welfare options are easily accessible for discerning Australians around the country. In fact, Coles has your popular Christmas products sorted with animal welfare in mind.
Coles sources turkey for its Coles Finest Free Range Turkey products from farms with RSPCA Approved certification in the NSW Hunter Valley. On these farms, turkeys have space to move, access to the outdoors and also enjoy perches, straw and toys to keep them entertained and occupied when inside the barn. Coles brand fresh turkey is sourced from farms across Australia that have been assessed against the RSPCA’s strict welfare standards. They are provided with more space, better lighting inside an enriched barn, perches and toys to keep them active and mentally stimulated.
The pork products under the Coles own brand come from farms certified against the RSPCA Approved Standard for Pigs. The farms are assessed twice a year by specially trained RSPCA Assessors to ensure conformance. As a humane death is also important, abattoirs are assessed against the Standard annually. Free-range pig farms with RSPCA Approved certification provide outdoor access for pigs year round, with comfortable resting areas with quality bedding sheltered from the elements. Sows have secluded places to build nests for their young and can access wallows that help pigs regulate their temperature and are important for enrichment.
Pigs on farms certified to RSPCA’s standards are never kept in cages or crates of any kind and are not subjected to painful husbandry procedures such as teeth clipping, tail docking, or surgical castration. With over 300 requirements, the RSPCA’s Standard for Pigs aims to provide a quality enriched environment whether this is indoor, outdoor bred or free range.
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