Success breeds success for Freedom Food members
Leading farm animal welfare organisation Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) named a record number of Freedom Food member winners at this year’s Good Farm Animal Welfare Awards 2011. Brookfield Farm, Dovecote Farm, Laverstoke Park Farm and the Happy Egg Company were among those Freedom Food members stepping up to lift the top awards. The ceremony at London’s Freemasons’ Hall in July saw recognition given to a total of 48 different organisations for their commitment to higher animal welfare.
The Good Farm Animal Welfare Awards 2011 were presented in four categories:
The Good Egg Awards - rewarding organisations who make the commitment to source cage-free eggs. In this category, Freedom Food members Laverstoke Park Farm, Stokes and the Happy Egg Company (Noble Foods) all ran out winners.
The Good Chicken Awards - rewarding organisations who make the commitment to source higher welfare chicken. Here, winners included the Black Farmer - who source from a number of Freedom Food approved farms - and Traditional Norfolk Poultry (TNP).
The Good Dairy Awards - rewarding organisations who make the commitment to source dairy produce from higher welfare cows. In this category, Freedom Food winners included Brookfield Farm - a partnership between DB Foods and Tarrant Valley Farms - and Dovecote Farm.
The Supermarket Awards – rewarding supermarkets who point the way ahead for higher animal welfare. In this category, congratulations to Freedom Food members Coombe Farm (Warren Trust), for their work with Waitrose who subsequently won an award for Most Compassionate Supermarket. The other supermarket awards went to Sainsbury’s for Best Volume Supermarket and the Co-operative for Most Improved Supermarket - and all three are, of course, established Freedom Food retailers.
The evening also recognised producers who are leading the way in terms of better pig welfare. This included Freedom Food members Laverstoke Park Farm, Dents, Packington Pork,Vion, and Bishop Burton College - who were commended for demonstrating higher welfare for sows and pigs. This recognition paves the way for The Good Pig Awards which will launch at next year’s awards ceremony.
CIWF estimate that over 208 animals are set to benefit each year from the policies of the award winners.