Record-breaking rise for Freedom Food

British shoppers are standing firm by animal welfare in 2010 as Freedom Food has recently reported a record breaking 532 million farm animals are being reared under its scheme to the RSPCA's higher welfare standards.

The number of animals rose by 46 per cent in just over a year from more than 363 million at the end of 2008.

Early signs this year already show the trend is set to continue, with more than 13,000 animals coming on board in January. This is proof, Freedom Food says, that despite the credit crunch, higher welfare food continues to make an impact on British shoppers.

The highest increase in animals was salmon - up by 56 per cent to 440 million fish, followed by pigs - up by 23 per cent to 1.9 million. This result comes a year after separate campaigns were launched by the RSPCA ('Rooting for Pigs') and Jamie Oliver ('Jamie Saves Our Bacon' on Channel 4) to improve pig welfare.

There were also significant increases in the number of ducks, turkeys and chickens in the Freedom Food scheme.

RSPCA Education has a number of resources for Early Years and Key Stages 1, 2 and 4 that show how we can make a difference to the welfare of farm animals by the choices we make when shopping. They can be used for both citizenship and science lessons.

Our primary farm animal resources include:

• In Freedom Food farms pupils examine the needs of farm animals and are introduced to the five freedoms. Pupils will also find out about the RSPCA Freedom Food labelling scheme and how farming establishments can become members.
• In Thank you for the food we eat pupils are introduced to the idea that much of our food and things we use every day come from animals, and that the animals deserve to have a happy and healthy life.

Our secondary resources include:

• In Food for thought pupils examine the role that food labelling plays in consumer spending and how consumers have the power to positively influence farm animal welfare.
• In Do they suffer? pupils examine the welfare and ethical issues concerned with rearing chickens for meat as an example of selective breeding and intensive farming.

To download the images from the Farm animals album please visit the Image collections page.