“Chickens, cows and octopuses should never be treated as ‘units of production’. They have feelings too and are capable of experiencing pain, joy and other emotion. Understanding this – and recognising it in law – matters. New legislation means all vertebrate animals, plus lobsters, crabs, octopuses and related species will be recognised in UK law as sentient beings. Good news at a time when there’s so little to cheer about. The health and welfare of all involved in food and farming is important – whether two legs, four legs or eight tentacles.”
Our Executive Director, Dan Crossley, in his latest column for the Grocer, writes about the new Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act, why farmed animal welfare should be a cornerstone of ethical food approaches and more broadly about the need for ambitious but sensible legislation.
Read Dan’s full column in the Grocer magazine here.
Note – you can view one Grocer article per month for free and/ or register to see three articles per month; otherwise the article is behind a paywall.