The new common seal of the livestock-meat sector brings its commitment to animal welfare to the tables of Spaniards.
The Spanish livestock-meat sector, represented by its six Interprofessional Organizations, has presented the common seal "B+ COMMITMENT TO ANIMAL WELFARE", which brings together in a unified image all the meats and products certified by the different certification systems implemented in a coordinated manner by each sector.
This is another pioneering initiative that reflects the commitment of the Spanish livestock sector to comply with the highest standards of livestock welfare and to consolidate Spain as one of the major international benchmarks in animal welfare, highlighting the efforts made by the sector, with the ultimate goal of responding to the demands of society and offering:
- To consumers: guarantee and confidence in the acquisition of its certified products, elaborated through ethical production systems based on the support of production science and animal welfare.
- To the operators of commercial distribution and specialized distribution: a certification system that encompasses requirements based on scientific and technical criteria that are more demanding than those required by European and national regulations.
The common seal "B+ Animal Welfare Commitment" strictly guarantees the products of operators that have been certified by means of the Procedures and Technical Regulations of the respective "Animal Welfare Commitment" certification schemes, developed by the six Interprofessionals on the basis of the criteria and elements established by ENAC (the National Accreditation Entity), to obtain their accreditable certification recognition. "B+ Animal Welfare Commitment" and the respective certification schemes that support it are in a continuous process of verification and improvement, with the objective of recognition and accreditation by ENAC.
The common seal "B+ Animal Welfare Commitment" was created to make it easier for consumers to identify, through a single seal, all the products certified under these certification schemes in the sectors of white layer pork, Iberian pork, rabbit meat, sheep-goat meat, beef and poultry meat, and to offer distribution companies and specialized distributors greater ease in managing their animal welfare requirements for their suppliers and customers.
The certification system of the six interprofessionals that culminates with the common seal "B+ Animal Welfare Commitment" meets the "Five Freedoms" and the principles of Animal Welfare set by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). The best Spanish technical and academic specialists in this field have participated in its development, and it has been endorsed by high-level Scientific Committees, resulting in a certification system that includes requirements based on scientific and technical criteria that are more demanding than those required by European and national regulations.
The certificate developed by each interprofessional, provides recognition, strength and breadth and allows its adaptation to each livestock production, guaranteeing the good practices carried out in the areas of welfare, health, biosecurity, animal management and traceability in all links of the production chain, and is responsibly aligned with the "Farm to Fork" strategy and the Green Deal of the European Union, and therefore also committed to sustainability, quality and food safety.
Behind this seal "B+ Animal Welfare Commitment" there are hundreds of thousands of farmers and workers in the sector who strive every day and fight for a commitment they have all acquired, in order to transmit with transparency to the consumer and distribution all the criteria of welfare and ethical production that are applied in the good care of animals and in the attention to the demands received from society in this important aspect of food production.