Carrefour - 2017 Registration Document

2 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Protecting biodiversity CARREFOUR | 2017 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 55 Ensuring animal welfare 2.3.4 Carrefour’s policy Supporting animal welfare improvements with Welfarm Carrefour is committed to developing a coherent approach on animal welfare improvement in its supply chains. It advocates the “Five Freedoms” adapted to suit the various livestock farming methods used: Freedom from hunger and thirst, by ready access to fresh water ● and diet to maintain 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 company of the animal’s own kind; Freedom from fear and distress, by ensuring conditions and ● treatment which avoid mental suffering. Since 2008, Carrefour has been working with Welfarm, a public-interest non-profit organisation working on improved consideration for animal welfare in livestock farming and closer integration of this factor in Carrefour Quality Lines. Welfarm support includes advice on policy definition and inclusion in specifications, and oversight of the progress plan. Carrefour France coordinates the Group’s animal welfare pilot policy across all business lines through a programme drawn up in 2017. This programme has three phases and is applied across all business lines, the five main ones being beef, pork, eggs, chicken and veal. Phase 1 – Reach minimum standards that go beyond regulations Carrefour wishes to go further than current regulations in eradicating mistreatment, inhumane slaughter conditions, inhumane transport conditions, caging (in egg, rabbit and quail lines) and painful mutilations (as with pig castration). Phase 2 – Improve industrial farming conditions by upgrading facilities Carrefour encourages its suppliers to improve industrial livestock farming conditions. Facility upgrades include: Improvements to buildings: indoor free space, natural lighting, ● outdoor access, lower density; Improvements to surroundings: installation of features enabling ● animals to express natural behaviours. added in 2018 to help suppliers work towards implementing the best livestock rearing methods. Two pilot lines have been set up in partnership with breeders and Welfarm: rabbits and free-range chickens. More pilot lines will be Because facility upgrades usually require building redesign and technical and financial investment from farmers, transformation will be on a medium- or long-term timeframe. Phase 3 – Offer exemplary products of animal origin In presenting its customers with exemplary products, Carrefour fosters development of the best possible practices as regards animal welfare. At the same time, it is working on introducing an indicator that will make it possible to monitor the Group’s animal welfare performance. Improving livestock farming practices Since the Carrefour Quality Lines were introduced in 1992, Carrefour has not allowed the use of growth hormones in livestock production. Carrefour also encourages the development of livestock breeding without the use of antibiotics. For the last five years, Carrefour has gradually rolled out this policy to all classes and uses of antibiotics for all exposed livestock, including pigs, salmon, prawns, poultry, etc. In France, Carrefour leads the field in antibiotic-free livestock. Judging from its experience of working with breeders, Carrefour is convinced that livestock farming can achieve good performance by natural means. It is in favour of natural reproduction and against the cloning techniques used in certain sectors. Highlights Reflets de France free-range pork and veal raised without antibiotics appeared on the shelves of Carrefour France stores in 2017. In Spain, Carrefour launched a new Carrefour Quality Line of eggs from free-range facilities that use an innovative vaccination programme to avoid the use of antibiotics during the laying period. In France, Carrefour is committed to sourcing all Carrefour brand eggs from facilities that use alternatives to caging by 2020. Carrefour is working in close cooperation with suppliers to extend this programme to all eggs in its stores by 2025, as well as all own-brand eggs in the Group's other European countries. To facilitate this change in production methods, Carrefour will be offering suppliers of its own-brand products specific contracts over three years or longer, thereby encouraging the emergence of new organic or free-range farms and conversion of cage-based farms. Carrefour France has included farm and animal breeding conditions as a traceability criterion, visible in stores in the form of a product QR code.