M&S revamps its cruel dairy farms after Mail’s expose
MARKS & Spencer has brought in new farm welfare standards in response to evidence of cruelty to dairy calves.
It will become the first British food giant to sell RSPCA Assured milk, which will involve regular welfare audits.
The move follows revelations by the Daily Mail earlier this year about potentially cruel and illegal practices on one Dorset farm raising dairy calves for M & S.
Large calves, older than eight weeks, were being reared in cramped hutches on one farm in breach of welfare regulations. Shocking photos showed rows and rows of the pens, with the large calves struggling to bend to get inside the small shelters. At the time the problems were made public, M& S food director Andy Adcock said: ‘We hold our hands up. Keeping calves over eight weeks old in such pens is unacceptable. One of our farmers made a mistake.’
M& S subsequently called in the RSPCA to audit 37 dairy farms supplying the chain.
It has emerged that 23 initially failed to meet the charity’s standards and have been required to make improvements.
Two farms failed ten standards and have been required to make significant changes to the way they operate. All the farms have now achieved RSPCA Assured certification and from today M& S fresh milk packaging will carry the RSPCA Assured logo. It means the 150million pints of milk a year sold by M& S will come from farms with the highest welfare standards.
The revelations about large calves being reared in cramped pens at Grange Dairy in East Chaldon, Dorset, were based on secret filming by the campaigning group Animal Equality UK. Following the scandal M& S has also promised to be more open with shoppers about where the milk on its shelves comes from.
It will publish the RSPCA Assured assessment reports for each of its supplier farms as part of an interactive online map.
Yesterday the chain’s head of agriculture and fisheries Steve McLean said: ‘ No other retailer has this level of transparency or standards in its dairy supply chain.
‘Back in March we faced calls to cut ties with one of our dairy farmers because of a breach of animal welfare regulations. It would have not have been the right thing to do. One of our farmers made a mistake, so ... we worked with the farmer to rectify the issue and took the decision to strengthen our standards by asking an independent to assess all of our dairy farms. The RSPCA assessors checked 332 standards on the 37 farms, with the average number of non-compliances at two per farm.
Clive Brazier, head of RSPCA Assured, said: ‘For the first time ever, consumers will be able to buy RSPCA Assured labelled milk in a high street retailer. This is a major step forward for improving dairy cow welfare and we hope other retailers will follow suit.’
‘We hold our hands up’