On the occasion of tomorrow's debate in the German Bundestag on the second amendment to the Animal Husbandry Labeling Act, the German Animal Welfare Federation criticizes the political fixation on an instrument that does not improve animal welfare. The amendment to the law provides for a further postponement of state animal husbandry labeling until January 1, 2027. The German Animal Welfare Association points to the enormous shortcomings in animal welfare law and makes it clear that labeling will remain ineffective without fundamental reform and a long-term strategy for restructuring agricultural animal husbandry.
"Animal husbandry labeling does not help a single animal to have a better life. It is merely intended to provide consumers with guidance and show the conditions under which the animals from which the meat originates were kept. However, guidance alone does not protect animals,“ clarifies Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Association. ”If the CDU/CSU and SPD now justify the renewed postponement with the need for fundamental reform, then we expect more than cosmetic corrections."
In its current form, the planned state animal husbandry labeling system, based on a few rough guidelines, merely reflects the status quo of existing husbandry practices during animal fattening. It does not provide any binding incentives for better living conditions. The conditions for animals during rearing, transport, and slaughter are not taken into account.
The German Animal Welfare Federation points out that the shortcomings in current animal welfare law are so serious that an isolated debate about animal husbandry labeling obscures the essentials: “As long as the legal minimum requirements are so low or even non-existent, allowing massive animal suffering, the years of political wrangling over a single instrument such as labeling is at best third or fourth, if not fifth, priority,” says Schröder. “What is missing is a clear political strategy for what agricultural animal husbandry should look like in 20 or 30 years.” To date, there are neither binding targets nor a roadmap for the gradual phase-out of animal welfare-unfriendly forms of husbandry.
A sustainable animal welfare policy must take a fundamentally different approach: with a significant increase in the legal minimum standards for agricultural animal husbandry, husbandry requirements for animal species such as cattle and turkeys, for which there are currently no requirements, a ban on tethering and painful amputations in animals, and reliable financing for barn conversions, which offers long-term planning security for farms that invest in greater animal welfare. “A labeling system can at best be a supplementary tool—not the core of political efforts,” says Schröder.
