Compassion talks food labels on Countryfile

Published 02/03/2012

Watch us on the BBC

During this week's Countryfile (BBC One Sunday 4 March, 7pm) John Craven investigates animal welfare labelling.

Compassion in World Farming's CEO, Philip Lymbery, will discuss the existing farm assurance labelling schemes used on our food and what they really mean in terms of animal welfare. Watch the programme.

When it comes to animal welfare, food labelling is confusing. All too often, meat products are labelled with terms like 'farm fresh' or bear pictures of animals in fields. These labels don't indicate how the food was produced and can often be misleading.

A new campaign

Recognising the existence of this problem in the marketplace, we have formed a partnership with RSPCA, Soil Association and World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and together have started work on a new campaign that will call for clear, honest labelling of the method of production on all meat and dairy products across Europe. To find out more about the new campaign go to www.ciwf.org/labelling

Philip Lymbery, Compassion in World Farming's CEO says: "Consumers want to know how the animals used to produce their food have lived. However, opinion polls tell us time and again that they feel there is a lack of transparency in the market place around farming methods and that many existing labels are unclear and can be misleading. We want labelling that will help shoppers know how their meat and milk has been produced. We want to see transparent, honest labelling across Europe for all meat and milk products by law."

The coalition is looking forward to officially launching the campaign later this year…..watch this space!