Aldi has beaten three of the UK’s biggest supermarkets to become the second largest retailer of RSPCA Assured products, says the RSPCA’s ethical food label today (Thursday 1 June).
Whilst Sainsbury’s firmly remains the largest supermarket of RSPCA Assured products – with a 53.38 per cent share of wholesale value and 899 different product lines – Aldi is second place with a 15.85 per cent share of wholesale and 346 product lines*.
Tony Baines, Joint Managing Director of Aldi Corporate Buying, said: “Animal welfare is important to our customers and we have increased the percentage of RSPCA Assured products we stock in line with this. Our customers know that shopping at Aldi means responsibly sourced products at affordable prices.”
Further de-bunking the popular myth that high end supermarkets and restaurants are always synonymous with higher animal welfare – whilst discounters and fast food chains can mean lower standards – is McDonald’s UK who use more RSPCA Assured products than any other UK restaurant and the majority of UK retailers.
Commenting on this news RSPCA Assured CEO, Clive Brazier, says: “This news flies firmly in the face of the common misconception that you need to shop and eat in ‘high-end’ supermarkets and restaurants to get higher welfare products.
“With their commitment to stocking and using RSPCA Assured products Aldi and McDonald’s have clearly shown that higher welfare doesn’t always mean consumers having to pay a much higher price.”
These new figures are published in RSPCA Assured’s latest annual review which gives a snapshot of key achievements in 2016. View the report here https://www.berspcaassured.org.uk/about-us/rspca-assured-annual-review-2016/
Other highlights include:
- Nearly 270m animals (including salmon and trout) were reared to RSPCA welfare standards under the RSPCA Assured scheme;
- RSPCA Assured achieved more than 64 per cent of farmed Scottish salmon production, more than 55 per cent of UK egg production and nearly a quarter of UK pig production (24.8 per cent);
- 2,391 different RSPCA Assured labelled product lines available in supermarkets, shops and independents;
- 373 new members successfully joined RSPCA Assured (out of 500 applicants), bringing the total number of members to a 3,665 members;
- One in three people (33 per cent) recognised the RSPCA Assured brand – an increase of 120 per cent from 15 per cent when the label first launched in May 2015.
