Mercadona Animal Welfare Policy to improve animal quality of life

Mercadona Animal Welfare Policy

27 march 2019
  • All products of animal origin that Mercadona offers come from approved suppliers, which are audited both by the company and by the Healthcare Authorities, ensuring compliance with current legislation. 

Mercadona is committed to animal welfare. The Mercadona Animal Welfare Policy is evidence of this as it reflects efforts not only to guarantee food safety and product quality, but also to ensure decent conditions throughout an animal’s entire lifespan.

Through this Policy, Mercadona requires animal protection and welfare on livestock farms and throughout all processes. Therefore, in addition to complying with current legislation on the matter, Mercadona ensures that its suppliers enforce animal welfare standards.

In order to guarantee compliance, Mercadona works closely with its suppliers, ensuring that animals that provide meat, eggs, milk and other products of animal origin are raised under conditions that comply with the "five freedoms".

Mercadona Animal Welfare Policy

  • Animal welfare is a non-negotiable ethical and social duty as well as a necessary requirement to ensure the quality of the meat products that Mercadona offers its "Bosses" (customers). 
  • Mercadona is committed to animal protection and welfare at livestock farms and in all processes and complies with current legislation on the matter, applying animal welfare standards throughout an animal’s entire lifespan.
  • Therefore, Mercadona works closely with its suppliers to: 
  1. Ensure that animals that provide meat, eggs, milk and other meat products are raised under conditions that ensure compliance with the five freedoms (5F):
  • Freedom from hunger or thirst by ready access to fresh water and a suitable diet for maintaining full health and vigour.
  • Freedom from discomfort by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
  • Freedom from pain, injury or disease by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
  • Freedom to express normal behaviour by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and the company of other animals of its own kind.
  • Freedom from fear and distress by ensuring conditions and treatment that avoid mental suffering.
  1. Ensure that personnel at livestock farms and in all other processes have the appropriate training to avoid any type of pain or suffering caused by handling in an animal’s raising, transport and slaughter.
  2. Implement certifiable standards that include animal welfare by 2021.

Welfare policy for its suppliersAs part of this commitment, Mercadona strongly rejects any bad practices in animal handling, and will not work with any supplier that does not comply with its Animal Welfare Policy.  

Noteworthy Mercadona animal welfare measures                     

Mercadona and its suppliers are working together with IRTA (the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology) and NEIKER-Tecnalia (the Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development) to develop comprehensive regulations on the protection of animals on farms, in transport and also in the slaughtering stage.

2021 will be the deadline for all of the company's suppliers to be certified in Animal Welfare thanks to a collective signature by which 100% of meat, egg and milk suppliers are committed.

Among other adopted measures, Mercadona is working with its suppliers to progressively abandon the sale of eggs from caged hens.

To learn more about this and other Mercadona commitments, please see the Environment Report or the Social Responsibility area, in which other facts and commitments regarding sustainability and the environment can be found.