From June 1 EU citizens may start to see US animal products on supermarket shelves sporting an organic label. But no-one should should imagine that these products imply any welfare credibility, warns Compassion In World Farming (Compassion) senior campaign manager Emma Slawinski.
“As they stand, US organic standards fall far below standards of animal welfare when compared to EU standards. US organic standards allow practices that would disqualify them as organic in the EU. In some cases, US stocking densities would be illegal [in the EU] on welfare grounds.”
There is a gaping chasm in places over animal husbandry. “Under US standards mutilations are expressly permitted, electric prods are not expressly prohibited, the list goes on and on.”
Later this month, the US National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) will meet to discuss revisions to their standards. “Compassion will be there. We will urge NOSB to raise the US standards to make them truly equivalent to EU standards. They need to put farm animal welfare first.”
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