Eating Better’s Sourcing Better guide offers a clear pathway to sourcing “better” meat and dairy for food retailers.
Waitrose’s farming commitments demonstrate its leadership in farm animal welfare and deliver “better.” It holds 14 Retailer Awards from Compassion in World Farming, including five Good Farm Animal Welfare Awards. Waitrose is ranked as tier one leaders by Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare.
The welfare practices that its suppliers must adhere to and be independently verified include:
- Healthy animals are not routinely given antibiotics.
- In April 2022, Waitrose made the pledge that cows producing milk for its own-label with spend a minimum of 180 days each year grazing, an increase from 120 days.
- Beef cattle have 30% more space than the Red Tractor standard.
Other commitments include:
- One of three supermarkets (Waitrose, M&S and Co-op) that sell only free range eggs, including those used as ingredients.
One of only four UK supermarkets (Waitrose, M&S, Aldi and Lidl) to have signed up to the Better Chicken Commitment, pledging to sell chicken from slower growing breeds by 2026.
