Assessment and valuation of government policies to improve food animal welfare

There is a need to assess the benefits of government policy to improve the welfare of food animals. We present a holistic, animal-centred welfare assessment method using an expert panel of independent animal welfare scientists linked to a survey of food shoppers’ willingness to pay (WTP) to improve welfare levels, using a 0–100 animal welfare scale. We apply this method to six food animal types in the UK and 15 different topical policy scenarios. We find that several current production systems have welfare scores below 50 but that some of the policy initiatives analysed could increase welfare scores substantially if implemented. We provide valuation tables of people’s WTP to increase welfare scores for each of the six animal types. Marginal WTP was found to diminish as welfare scores increased. WTP values are fully transferable across any policies affecting the animals involved and are not tied to specific production practices or contexts. The UK government has been using the method to evaluate a range of policy options to improve welfare. The method can be applied in other countries. The method enables government policy makers to better make the case for policies to improve the welfare of food animals and its application should lead to an increased likelihood of such policies being implemented. The outputs can also be used to inform consumers regarding the animal welfare provenance of the food they purchase.