Corporate social responsibility and farm animal welfare: towards sustainable development in the food industry?

Lever, J. and Evans, A. (2016), in Stages of Corporate Social Responsibility: From Ideas to Impacts, Chapter: 10, Publisher: Springer, Editors: Stephen Vertigans, Samuel O. Idowa, pp.205-222

In recent years corporate social responsibility (CSR) has grown in importance as supermarkets and corporate retailers have responded to consumer concerns about a range of ethical issues linked to farm animal welfare (FAW). It is in this context that the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) has emerged to examine how global food companies work to improve FAW. In this chapter we assess the performance of supermarkets and corporate retailers in the field of FAW by drawing on data from an ongoing evaluation of BBFAW. We conclude that many of the companies assessed in the benchmark have little or no idea why they engage with FAW and little or no understanding of the links between FAW and sustainable development.