Mr. Jeppe Juul Petersen, Senior Counselor of Royal Danish Embassy: Improve animal welfare through the use of welfare labels

         On September 19-20th 2019, “3rd World Conference on Farm Animal Welfare” was held in Qingdao. The conference was jointly co-hosted by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and China Association for the Promotion of International Agricultural Cooperation (CAPIAC). The conference featured “Consumer-driven Quality Improvement: Assuring Animal and Human Health”. Jeppe Juul Petersen, Senior Counselor (Food and Agriculture) of Royal Danish Embassy shared about the work on animal welfare labels done in Denmark.

         Mr. Jeppe stated that Denmark had always been committed to improving animal welfare. Through the creative launch of welfare label on pigs, the aim was to provide consumers with more choices in animal welfare, thereby creating market-driven animal welfare. The entire food chain partners worked together and jointly developed the animal welfare label.

        Not only that, but Denmark also introduced the label for broilers. Jeppe pointed out, “Restaurants can use these labels in marketing. In Denmark, animals with animal welfare labels already have better animal welfare, and hope that with welfare labels, the market can be used to maximize the welfare of animals. With animal welfare labels, consumers can better identify which products are in line with better animal welfare requirements. In addition, as there are animal products with animal welfare labels, consumers are willing to buy such products at a higher price."

        Denmark's use of the animal welfare label was strictly controlled from farm to table. Jeppe emphasized,“The products sold with this label are controlled by the state and the state authorized agency. All parties involved in the labeling agreement throughout the product chain are subject to control. All animals are subject to control at the slaughterhouse with meat inspections. The animal products are subject to control in retail, as well as some management controls and data controls."