The RSPCA is reviewing its animal welfare assurance scheme amid claims the system is failing.
Almost 4,000 farms are certified RSPCA Assured, which indicates that their meat, fish, eggs and dairy products have been produced to strict standards which exceed the UK’s legal requirements.
Farms found to meet these standards can use the label to inform supermarket shoppers of their superior animal welfare standards.
But the RSPCA said it has been carrying out a “fine grain and comprehensive review” of its process in light of claims by activists who say the scheme is failing to stop welfare issues at many certified farms.
This has involved unannounced visits to more than 200 assured farms over recent months, the charity said.
It comes as a coalition of 60 organisations, including Peta, Animal Rising and Animal Justice Project alongside celebrities such as Ricky Gervais, Joanna Lumley and Bryan Adams sent an open letter on Thursday, reiterating calls for the RSPCA to scrap the scheme.
The letter said: “Your RSPCA Assured scheme is failing to ensure the well-being of farmed animals, it is welfare-washing animal cruelty, and it is misleading the public that animals can be farmed without cruelty.
“We believe it’s time for you to protect all animals by ending the Assured scheme and promoting a kinder future that doesn’t involve harming and slaughtering animals in their billions.”
Earlier this year, activists said they found breaches of legal standards on around 40 farms after secretly filming at many that had been assured by the RSPCA.
Allegations included overcrowding, poor hygiene, and in some cases, physical abuse of livestock by farm workers.
When the claims were made public, Chris Packham, president of the RSPCA, called for the scheme to be suspended.
An RSPCA spokesperson said: “Both the RSPCA and RSPCA Assured take any welfare concerns on farms very seriously – this is the sole focus of the scheme and central to the core work of the RSPCA.
“Failure to conform to the scheme standards is unacceptable. Once concerns came to light, RSPCA Assured launched an immediate investigation and visited all farms identified as being members.
“But we want to give our supporters, partners and the public confidence that RSPCA Assured is consistently delivering better welfare than standard farming practices.
“So, alongside this investigation, we launched an independent review of RSPCA Assured, which has been carried out over several months, including unannounced visits to more than 200 members of the scheme. This is in addition to the existing checks we have in place as part of the scheme.”
The RSPCA added that analysis of its review was ongoing and it would release its findings as soon as it was able.
“Once we assess these findings, we will take any necessary robust action,” the spokesperson added.
RSPCA welfare scientists set out the welfare standards that farms have to follow in order to be certified.
RSPCA Assured products are stocked in supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Lidl as well as restaurants such as McDonald’s and Frankie & Benny’s.
Rose Patterson, from the Animal Rising group and lead investigator on the RSCPA campaign, said: “While we welcome the news of a wider review of the scheme, it’s clear to anyone who has visited these farms that the Assured scheme is a betrayal of the RSPCA’s core values of protecting animals from cruelty.”
