Initiative Tierwohl is positioning itself for the future
The Animal Welfare Initiative (ITW) is working flat out on the future of animal welfare in Germany. With a 90 percent market share for poultry in the participating trade and over 50 percent for pigs, the ITW is Germany's largest and most important animal welfare program. The animal welfare criteria, the financing model and the system for controlling the farms are regularly checked and adapted to the current framework conditions. The ITW has now announced plans for how Germany's largest animal welfare program will continue from 2024.
In future, the fatteners' commitment to animal welfare is to be rewarded by way of a payment from the slaughterhouses based on a recommendation made by the ITW. In doing so, the ITW is fulfilling a core requirement of the Federal Cartel Office and is securing its future.
"We had to find a way that would give both the farmers and the participating companies planning security, while leaving enough room to meet the challenges of the market and the demands of society and politics," explains Robert Römer, Managing Director of the ITW. "The guidelines agreed with the Federal Cartel Office for the continuation of the ITW from 2024 will be discussed in the ITW committees in the coming weeks."
A fixed amount per animal should continue to be paid to the piglet producers via the ITW. From the summer of 2024, however, there will be a distinction in terms of the amount: farmers who deliver their piglets to an ITW fattener will receive a higher amount. This differentiation is intended to provide additional incentives for piglet producers to close the supply chain from birth to slaughter in the future.
"We believe that we can make the ITW fit for the future with these cornerstones," explains Römer. “We are working hard with everyone involved to ensure that we can decide on these cornerstones in a timely manner. We will announce further details as soon as relevant decisions have been made.”
About the Initiative animal welfare
With the Tierwohl (ITW) initiative launched in 2015, the partners from agriculture, the meat industry, food retail and gastronomy commit themselves to their joint responsibility for animal husbandry, animal health and animal welfare in livestock husbandry. The animal welfare initiative supports farmers in implementing measures for the welfare of their livestock that go beyond the legal standards. The implementation of these measures is monitored across the board by the Animal Welfare Initiative. The Animal Welfare Initiative's product seal only identifies products that come from animals from participating companies in the Animal Welfare Initiative. The animal welfare initiative is gradually establishing more animal welfare on a broad basis and is continuously being further developed in the process. www.initiative-tierwohl.de
