Animal-based indicators for welfare assessment

Animal-based indicators for welfare assessment

European consumers are concerned by animal welfare and consider themselves not enough informed.

For a long time, animal welfare has been addressed in terms of minimal requirements on resources, such as appropriate housing and feeding, care received… Animal-based indicators, developed by INRA and its partners, allow considering what matters to animals, rather than attempting to ‘being good to animals’ as perceived by humans. At European level, outputs from the Welfare Quality® project contributed to the formulation of European Union strategy to protect animals. Animal-based indicators are also used by animal welfare associations to dialog with stakeholders and show that animal welfare can be measured adequately. These programs can enable agro-food companies to answer societal crises and develop specific labels.