FAQs - Compassion's work

What does Compassion do exactly?

• We campaign peacefully to end all factory farming practices. We believe that the biggest cause of cruelty on the planet deserves a focused, specialised approach – so we only work on farm animal welfare.
• We are campaigners against cruel systems and practices
• We are passionate pragmatists; demanding change and offering solutions
• We celebrate those who make real progress for animal welfare, for example within the food industry, and promote humane alternatives to factory farmed food
• We aim to gain recognition for animal welfare as integral to society’s sustainable development globally
• We recognise the interrelatedness between animal welfare, environmental protection, human health and sustainability
• We work to highlight the wider consequences of factory farming so that we galvanise a broad, powerful movement for action against factory farming
• We also recognise the resource-intensive nature of meat and dairy production
• We therefore recommend reducing global meat and dairy consumption and consuming only humanely-produced animal products

How do I know the food I am eating hasn’t been factory farmed?

Thank you for actively seeking higher welfare products to ensure that you are not supporting factory farming. We have a wealth of information about food labelling, including a useful food guide. 

Who are the Food Business Team?

Since 2007, Compassion in World Farming’s Food Business Team has been working with some of the world’s biggest food companies - retailers, producers, manufacturers and food service companies - to place farm animal welfare at the forefront of their corporate social responsibility agendas.

What has Compassion done to improve standards for farm animals?

Compassion’s campaigns have already seen the beginning of the end for many of the worst aspects of factory farming – the banning of barren battery cage for hens; the end to near-permanent confinement of sows; the abolition of the horrifically restrictive veal crate. The EU has listened to our voice and enacted legislation on all these issues. And, to date, our tough, pragmatic engagement with leading food firms from McDonald’s to Unilever is set to benefit hundreds of millions of farm animals every year.  Learn more about our impact.

Could you fund my research project?

Unfortunately, as a relatively small charity who rely entirely on the donations of our supporters we cannot afford to fund any external research or other work that is not our own.

Can you offer advice on starting a farm?

We celebrate those who make real progress for animal welfare and promote humane alternatives to factory farmed food, but we are not an assurance scheme and do not endorse individual livestock products.  We would therefore be unable to give any information on how to start your own farm.