Animal Welfare Reporting - Marks & Spencer
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Animal Welfare Reporting
July 2021
Introduction
Animal welfare is a broad term covering the general health, welfare and wellbeing of animals in
the diverse farming systems in our supply chain. It covers all the elements associated with
livestock production including housing, grazing, nutrition, disease prevention and control and
transport, right through to humane handling and slaughter. It means providing for the animal’s
physical and mental needs and ensuring that every animal in our supply chain has a life worth
living.
Our goal is to ensure that our suppliers adopt and implement the highest practical and
commercially viable standards of farm animal welfare across our supply base and to be able to
demonstrate continuous improvement in farm animal health and welfare standards.
As part of our M&S Select Farm Programme, we collect a number of key welfare outcome
measures and indicators. We use this to monitor trends, highlight best practice and focus on
areas of improvement with our suppliers. We review our outcome measure data and
performance as part of our quarterly Governance process. This document provides an overview
of our performance on some of the key welfare metrics. More information can be found on our
approach to welfare, policies and more detailed species-specific information on our website.
Progress Against Our Animal Welfare Commitments
• We are committed to being leaders in farm animal welfare. In April 2021 we expanded
the RSPCA Assured range we sell, meaning we now offer more RSPCA Assured products
than any other retailer. Alongside being the only UK retailer to offer RSPCA Assured milk
we carry the RSPCA Assured logo on our shell eggs, pork, farmed salmon and trout and
Oakham Gold chicken.
• At M&S we only source free range eggs for both our fresh shell egg and ingredient
supply. We have been 100% free range on shell egg since 1997 and for ingredient
supply since 2002.
• In 2018, we were the first retailer to sign the Better Chicken Commitment to deliver
higher welfare chicken across all our fresh, frozen and ingredient chicken by 2026. In
2020, we launched our higher welfare chicken and announced in July 2021 that all our
fresh Oakham chicken will be Oakham Gold by Autumn 2022. In 2020, higher welfare
chicken from slow growing breeds was 5.2% of our global chicken supply.
• As of April 2021, 100% of our fresh, frozen and ingredient pork is sourced from Outdoor
Bred, free range or organic systems with no confinement farrowing.
• By December 2022 all our continental pork will be sourced from free farrowing systems
- currently 21% of our continental pork comes from these systems.
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 1Proportion of Animals Reared to Independent
Higher Welfare Standards*
120
100 100 100 100
100
80
57
60
40
20 12
0
Shell Eggs Farmed Salmon Farmed Trout Fresh Milk Pork Fresh Chicken
*This includes RSPCA Assured and Organic standards.
Antibiotic Use
We are actively addressing the use of antibiotic medicines in all our livestock and aquaculture
supply chains. Due to increasing concerns regarding the emergence of antimicrobial resistant
bacteria affecting human health, and the links to the use of medicines in livestock, we fully
support the need to safeguard our antimicrobial medicines and reduce the threat of antibiotic
resistance to global human health. We also recognise the importance of responsible veterinary
care and the role that antimicrobial use plays in protecting the health and welfare of the
animals in our supply.
Our policy for antibiotic usage in M&S-sourced livestock has been developed in consultation
with our sustainability advisors, veterinary staff and suppliers. The European Medicines Authority
(EMA) have classified antibiotics in terms of their importance to human and animal health. Our
definition of critical antibiotics (those that must be restricted in our livestock and aquaculture
supply chains) is an antibiotic that is defined as a ‘highest priority critically important
antimicrobial’ by the European Medicines Authority (EMA). These categories include the 3rd and
higher generation cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones and colistin. In line with the EMA, we believe
these medicines should be particularly safeguarded for use in people.
To view our policy please see here.
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 2Antimicrobial
usage Antimicrobial usage
(mg/PCU) (mg/PCU) RUMA Target by 2020
2019 2020 (mg/PCU)
Chicken
Oakham 13.52 13.43 25
Free Range 0.00 0.00 25
Ingredient (UK and EU) 18.95 21.40 25
Oakham Gold 2.27 25
Fresh Pork 26.1* 57.4* 99
Turkey 55.3 36.6 50
Dairy 10.2 8.7** 21
Duck 3.37 25
Trout (hatchery to grow
out) (mg/kg) 3.35 2.5
Egg (% days treated) 1.2 1.4All our dairy cows are provided with cow brushes and loafing areas when they are indoors and
none of our cows are permanently housed and must graze for a minimum of 110 days per year.
Our chickens and turkeys are provided with pecking objects, play bales and/or perches or
perching platforms. All our ducks have access to water troughs to allow for natural preening
behaviours. Our laying hens have access to an enriched range area which include trees and
artificial shelter to help encourage foraging and ranging. All our beef, lamb and venison are
grazed, which we know plays an important role in allowing the expressions of natural behaviours
and physical and mental wellbeing. We are currently running projects looking at enrichment
with some of our fin fish suppliers.
Pre-slaughter stunning
We require that all the meat, poultry and farmed fish we sell must come from animals that have
been humanely slaughtered and pre-slaughter stunned.
Proportion (%) of animals pre-stunned prior to
slaughter
Laying hens
100% 100%
Turkey
100% 100% Duck
Chicken
Lamb
100% 100%
Venison
Finfish
100% 100%
Pigs
100%
Beef & Rose Veal
Information on our transport times and slaughter methods for fish can be found here.
Transport Times & Dead-on-Arrival (DOA)
To help protect animal welfare and minimise stress, within our Select Farm sourcing standards
we require that all live animal transport is kept to a minimum and that long-distance transport is
avoided. Alongside journey times we also record the number of animals which died in transport
– known as Dead-on-Arrival (DOAs). DOA levels are low across our supply and should we see
any incidences of high DOAs, suppliers are required to investigate and take any suitable
corrective actions.
For our beef, lamb (UK and New Zealand) and rose veal, Dead-on-Arrival at our processing
plants was 0% for 2020. For 2020 we saw reductions in DOAs in laying hens, chicken and duck
and levels remained low in both pork and turkey.
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 4Laying Hens
0.3
0.26
0.25
Average laying hen mortality during
0.25
transport (% birds dead on arrival)
0.2
0.2 0.18
0.17
0.16 0.16 0.16
0.15 Fresh
0.11 Ingredient
0.1 0.1
0.1 0.09
0.05
0
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Turkey
0.08
0.07 0.07
0.07
transport (% birds dead on arrival)
Average flock mortality during
0.06
0.05
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.02
0.01
0.00
2017 2018 2019 2020
Chicken
Free Range/Organic Fresh Ingredient Higher welfare indoor
0.18
Average flock mortality during transport
0.16
0.14
(% birds dead on arrival)
0.12
0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 5Pork
0.20
transport (% animals dead on arrival)
0.18
Average group mortality during
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Fresh (UK) Ingredient (UK) Continental
Duck
0.06
Average flock mortality for duck during
0.05
transport (% birds dead on arrival)
0.05
0.04 0.04
0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03
0.03
0.02
0.01
0.00
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 6Dairy – Fresh Milk
We launched the M&S Milk Scheme in 1999. We developed the principle of the scheme in
collaboration with the farmers who supplied our milk, resulting in a dedicated pool of farmers
paid using a mechanism that delivered a long-term stable milk price. In 2004, we developed the
scheme further by introducing our ‘payment pledge’ and since then it has evolved into the
industry’s leading dairy scheme. Alongside all our fresh milk farms being RSPCA Assured, all our
farms receive an enhanced Health and Welfare assessment, undertaken by our independent vet,
aimed at driving continuous improvement and best practice. The results are shared and
benchmarked allowing farmer to understand their performance against others in the pool. We
are very proud of the results our farmers are achieving.
Key Points for our Dairy Pool
• 100% of our cows have access to pasture for more than 4-5 hours per day
• 100% of our cows have access to cow brushes and loafing areas
• 100% of our calves are provided with enrichment from week 6
• 100% of our dairy cows are free from tail docking
• None of our animals across all herds are routinely dehorned
• All our calves are group housed from no later than 21 days after birth
Performance
2020 was a challenging year for dairy producers with the conditions bought about by COVID
(staff isolating and disruption to contractor services), Brexit (loss of European labour) and the
extremes of (wet autumn, cold spring, hot summer) weather. Despite the challenges, the milk
pool has achieved strong performance. This year, with increased milk demand, we’ve added new
entrants to the dairy pool, who have performed well, but this has resulted in some variability in
the data. Some farms have left the pool.
Mobility
2.5% 2.30%
Average (median) percent cows with
lameness (score 3) for all herds
2.0% 1.80% 1.80% 1.80%
1.70%
1.5%
1.00%
1.0%
0.5%
0.0%
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Mobility shows continued improvement. Climatic conditions have been very challenging, but
cows and farmers have coped. There was very little spring grass and then we went into some
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 7early summer heat, and this can increase the risks for cow lameness (thinner digital cushion
followed by increased standing times).
Udder health
30%
26%
25%
Average (median) percent
25%
20.30% 20.00%
cows with mastitis
20% 17.90%
15.80%
15%
10%
5%
0%
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Udder health shows continued improvement. This year was particularly difficult with disrupted
antibiotic supply meaning preferred treatments were not always available. However, that has not
translated to problems for cow cure rates.
Cow comfort
4.00%
3.40%
Average (median) percent cows with
3.50%
swellings and abrasions (score 3)
2.90%
3.00%
2.50% 2.30% 2.30%
2.00% 1.80%
1.50% 1.30%
1.00%
0.50%
0.00%
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Cow comfort indicators have risen slightly. The sustainability of bedding supply was a massive
issue for some producers, with supplies of sawdust running at out various times. Nonetheless,
the rise in cow comfort indictors was small.
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 8Mortality
6%
5%
mortality (unplanned cow deaths)
Average (median) percent cow
5% 4.60%
4% 4.00%
4% 3.60%
3.40%
3%
2%
1%
0%
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
12.00%
9.90%
Average (median) percent heifer
calf mortality (first year of life)
10.00% 9.00%
7.60%
8.00%
6.10% 6.20%
5.80%
6.00%
4.00%
2.00%
0.00%
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Cow mortality has risen. This parameter is a not straightforward to assess, as it can also be a
marker of compassion, with farmers undertaking a level of humane euthanasia if and when it is
required.
Calf mortality – this has risen, which again, may reflect the challenges with maintaining a safe
working team. We have seen some Mycoplasma outbreaks, which has increased mortality rates
on certain farms.
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 9Laying hens
Global Performance - Beak-trimming
The number of birds within our global egg supply chain (fresh shell egg and ingredient) free
from beak trimming continues to increase and this is one of the areas we are focusing on with
our egg suppliers.
100
Percent (%) of laying hens in M&S supply chain (fresh
90
and ingredient) free from beak trimming
80
70
60
50
40.3
40 36.3
30
20.7
20
10 5.5
0
2017 2018 2019 2020
Mortality
Although the total percentage mortality in our free-range laying flocks has increased, there has
been a corresponding increase in slaughter age – meaning that our suppliers are keeping birds
for longer. The data shown is based on mortality at depopulation and has not been corrected
to mortality at 72 weeks, so we would expect total mortality to be showing as higher.
10
8.84
9
Total % flock mortality during lay
(All UK fresh and ingredient)
8
7.09
7 6.31
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2018 2019 2020
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 10Turkey
All our Oakham turkeys are grown at reduced stocking densities or are free range or organic.
The number of rejects recorded at slaughter have reduced in 2020 to 0.05%.
Disease
0.1
0.09
0.09
0.08
condemnations (%)
Total PMI rejects /
0.07
0.06 0.05
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
Fresh & Ingredient Supply 2019 (including frozen) Fresh & Ingredient Supply 2020 (including frozen)
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 11Chicken
Use of Slow-growing Breeds
The amount of slow-growing chicken breeds within our supply chain has increased, making up
5.2% of our global supply and 12% of our fresh supply. We introduced our higher welfare
Oakham Gold bird in 2020. We are increasing the production of these birds over 2021 and 2022
to ensure that all our fresh chicken will be produced to RSPCA Assured higher welfare
standards by autumn 2022. This is the first milestone towards us delivering our commitment for
all our chicken, whether fresh or ingredient, to come from slow-growing, higher welfare flocks by
2026.
6
5.2
Percent (%) chickens (fresh, ingredient, frozen)
that were recognised slower growing breeds
with higher welfare outcome potentials (as
5
specified in the European Chicken
4
3.5
Commitment)
3
2
1
0
2019 2020
Stocking Densities of 30kg/m 2 or less
All our Oakham, Oakham Gold, Free Range and Organic birds are grown to stocking densities of
30kg/m2 or less. As we increase production of our higher welfare bird this number should
continue to increase.
40
34.52
supply chain that were reared at lower
own-brand fresh/frozen products and
Percentage (%) of broiler chickens for
35
ingredients in the company’s global
30 27.6
stocking densities
25
20
15
10
5
0
2019 2020
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 12Mortality
Mortality across all our chicken has reduced this year. It is important to note that the figure
includes all culls. While we do have a target in place for mortality, we want to make sure that
our farmers are not discouraged from culling birds that may require it for welfare reasons.
When we look at our mortality figures we do so alongside the other metrics we record, as we
know that changes in one can influence performance in another. In 2020, we saw a very small
increase in overall antibiotic usage from 18.38 mg/PCU in 2019, to 20.49mg/PCU in 2020),
however, we have seen reductions in overall pododermatitis, hock marking and PMI rejects. This
may be because of decreased health challenges, as our farmers further increased their
biosecurity in response to avian influenza challenges.
Total Total
mortality, mortality,
including including
culls (%) culls (%)
2019 2020
Oakham 5.15 4.42
Free Range & Organic 7.60 4.70
Ingredient (UK and EU) 4.77 4.65
Oakham Gold 2.39
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 13Beef & Rose Veal
Disease, Injury & Liveability
We collect a range of measures at slaughter for our beef and rose veal animals. In 2020, we saw
a reduction across most of our outcome measures reported at abattoir. Through the work with
our processors and Select Farms we had hoped for a greater reduction in liver abscesses,
however, with the weather against us in a wet autumn, there was a limit in our improvement. We
hope to improve performance again in 2021.
Total cattle with joint lesions/arthritis 0.05
0.05
Total cattle with abscesses (fore/hindquarter, neck) 0.20
0.21
Outcome measure
Total other conditions 2.38
2.67
Total other internal parasites (Lungworm, hydatid cysts, 0.06
c.bovis) 0.04
Total with heart conditions 0.20
0.2
Total with liver abscesses 3.03
3.15
Total lung conditions (Pleurisy/pneumonia/abscesses) 2.80
3.32
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
% of total animals
2020 2019
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 14Lamb
Disease, Injury & Liveability
As already mentioned, the weather was challenging in 2020, however the overall welfare
performance on farm for lamb showed an improvement vs 2019, as outlined below.
Lamb
0.07
Total lamb with joint lesions/arthritis
0.21
0.52
Total lamb with abscesses (fore/hindquarter, neck)
0.36
0.77
Total other conditions
Oucome measure
2.041
Total other internal parasites (lungworm, hydatid cysts, 5.27
c ovis, cysticercus tenuicollis, cysticerus ovis) 6.29
0.16
Total with heart conditions
0.11
0.34
Total with liver abscesses
0.14
2.42
Total lung conditions (Pleurisy/pneumonia/abscesses)
2.77
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
% of total animals
2020 2019
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 15Pigs
Non-confinement farrowing
In 2020, we saw a decrease in the amount of non-confinement farrowed animals with our supply
chain across fresh, ingredient and continental pork. This was linked to changes in supply
volume, however since April 2021 all our fresh and ingredient pork is now outdoor bred, free
range or organic.
80 76
72.1
70
Percent (%) of M&S pork supply (fresh,
ingredient and continental including
61.9
frozen) from sows that are non-
60
confinement farrowed
50 47.4
40
30
20
10
0
2017 2018 2019 2020
The graph below shows the proportion of non-confinement farrowing in our ingredient supply
chain until December 2020.
Ingredient (UK)
100
Proportion (%) herds that are from non-
27 36
80
52 52
69
confinement farrow
60
97
40
20
0
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Outdoor bred Indoor free farrowed Confinement farrowed (farrowing crate)
In our continental pork supply chains, we have seen the proportion of animals which are free
farrowed increasing year on year since 2017. This number will continue to increase and by
December 2022 all our continental meat supply will be sourced from free farrowing systems.
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 16Continental (fresh & ingredient)
120
Proportion (%) herds that are from
100
non-confinement farrow
80
60 85 79
100 99 94 94
40
20
0
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Outdoor bred Indoor free farrowed Confinement farrowed (farrowing crate)
Pigs free from tail docking
Within our global supply chain for pork the number of pigs free from tail docking declined in
2020, linked to the changes in supply volumes. However, with the move to 100% Outdoor Bred
across fresh and ingredient supply in RSPCA Assured systems from April 2021 this number
should significantly improve in our 2021 reporting.
50 46.5
(fresh, ingredient and continental including
45 42
Percent (%) of pigs in M&S supply chain
38.7
40
frozen) free from tail docking
35
30
25
20 17.3
15
10
5
0
2017 2018 2019 2020
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 17Lameness at Slaughter
The number of pigs within our global supply that are identified as lame at slaughter has shown a
steady decline. Levels were 0.07% in 2020. This coincides with a reduction in the percentage of
joint lesions and arthritis being reported across our supply. At the same time, we have seen an
increase in animals housed in straw bedded systems.
0.14
0.12
% of animals identified as lame at slaughter
0.12
0.11
0.1
0.08
0.07
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
2018 2019 2020
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 18Fish
Salmon
All our salmon is RSPCA Assured. As part of their veterinary health and welfare plans, our
salmon farmers monitor several different conditions. Skin condition and eye damage at harvest
are two examples of these. We have seen a reduction in both these measures in 2020, which are
outcomes linked to the environment or fish husbandry. Results of this monitoring are regularly
discussed with a veterinary surgeon and the veterinary health and welfare plan updated and
acted on accordingly.
Average % of fish with a skin condition
7
6
5
at harvest
4
3
2
1
0
2019 2020
2
1.8
% of fish with eye damage at harvest
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
2019 2020
Animal Welfare Reporting – July 2021 19Seawater trout
Like our Salmon, all our trout is RSPCA Assured. As part of their veterinary health and welfare
plans our trout farmers monitor several different conditions. Skin condition and deformations
are two examples of these. We have seen a reduction in both these measures in 2020. Results
of this monitoring are regularly discussed with a veterinary surgeon and the veterinary health
and welfare plan updated and acted on accordingly.
3.8
Average % of fish with a skin condition
3.7
3.6
3.5
at harvest
3.4
3.3
3.2
3.1
3
2019 2020
1.2
Average % fish with deformation
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
2019 2020
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