The Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare, the first structured benchmark of the world's leading food companies, provides an objective account of the state of farm animal welfare as a business issue.

The benchmark of 68 global food companies reveals that many companies in the food industry are not effectively managing the business risks or opportunities associated with farm animal welfare, and that a majority have yet to report on how they are managing farm animal welfare.

Nicky Amos, the Business Benchmark's Programme Director says: "The central conclusion from our research is that farm animal welfare is receiving nothing like the attention that other corporate responsibility issues are receiving.

"Of the 68 companies, only 46% have published a formal farm animal welfare policy, only 41% describe how their board or senior management oversee their approach to farm animal welfare, and just 26% have published objectives and targets for farm animal welfare."

Compassion's CEO, Philip Lymbery, says: "The way that our food is produced and the treatment of the farm animals involved has become an increasingly important issue. For the very first time, this report shows how leading companies are responding to this issue and whether they are fully embracing the opportunities afforded by taking it as seriously as society now demands."

Find out more:

The Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) is the first global measure of farm animal welfare management, policy commitment and disclosure in food companies and is designed for use by investors, companies, NGOs and other stakeholders interested in understanding the relative performance of food companies in this area.

More information on the programme can be found at www.bbfaw.com

Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare launches