Animal welfare charity presents pig welfare awards to Chinese producers

Leading international farm animal welfare charity Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) Wednesday afternoon delivered the first pig welfare awards to eight Chinese producers in London, encouraging more Chinese producers to improve animal welfare.

Cooperating with the International Cooperation Committee of Animal Welfare (ICCAW), affiliated with the China Association for the Promotion of International Agricultural Cooperation (CAPIAC), over last year, CIWF launched the Good Pig Production Awards and carried out award criteria.

More than 60 Chinese enterprises have been assessed, while 13 of them finally got the awards. Eight of the 13 attended the presentation in London on Wednesday afternoon.

This is the first time that CIWF delivered such awards to Chinese producers.

Philip Lymbery, chief executive of CIWF told Xinhua that he had visited China several times in the past few years, he found the current situation of animal welfare in China, sadly, needs more improvement.

"The connection between how farm animals are kept and the quality and safety of the resulting food is starting to be recognized in China," he said.

He said offering this award to Chinese producers could promote the concept of "animal welfare" in China, and encourage more and more Chinese producers to give animal better care so that more producers could meet international trade standard and win more benefits from domestic and international market.

Xi Chunling, executive president of ICCAW said that China is the world's largest producer of pigs, with more than half the world's pig population, while China is also the largest market of pork. She said the welfare for pigs is just the first step, welfare of cow, sheep and poultry also need improvement. Endit