Food 2.0 Co-Innovation project aims at building a uniform system for production animal welfare verification
The Animal Welfare Verification System (AWS) project is part of the broader Food 2.0 Co-Innovation project. It is a joint initiative of the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and operators in the field to create a system for the assessment, verification, and traceability of animal welfare data from farm to consumer. A uniform, science-based evaluation system enables, among other things, reliable consumer communication.
The project consortia will create a production animal welfare verification system that can be adopted by all actors in the sector. The aim is to build a dynamic system where the assessment criteria for animal welfare evolve, for example, with advances in animal husbandry, animal welfare research or EU regulations.
Luke has worked for a long time with the food industry to develop cattle welfare and its evaluation methods. “This project is an excellent continuation of our long-term cooperation with the cattle industry and at the same time brings new business partners into the ecosystem of sustainable livestock production development,” says Anu Kaukovirta, Director of Luke.
Currently, the welfare of cattle in Finland is assessed by the national cattle herd health monitoring system Naseva, which covers more than 90% of Finland’s dairy and meat herds, as well as a more detailed Welfare Quality protocol.
“Naseva is, above all, a tool for health care, and although the WQ protocol is accurate and scientifically justified, its implementation is laborious and the calculation difficult to understand. In addition, not all categories of animals are covered and the assessment method has not been actively developed since its publication. The current evaluation methods do not produce information on the welfare of cattle that is suitable for the needs of consumer communications. The EU also aims to produce more harmonised animal welfare information,” says project leader Lilli Frondelius.
“The assessment and continuous development of animal welfare is pivotal for Valio and the future of the dairy industry. The Animal Welfare Verification System (AWVS) is a joint initiative of the public and private sectors to develop a national system for the assessment, verification and traceability of animal welfare data from farm to consumer in the form of a digital welfare label. By implementing scientifically validated welfare assessment methods and 3rd party certification, the AWVS ecosystem will help to ensure high standards of animal health and well-being in Finnish dairy and meat production, providing enhanced transparency throughout the food production chain.,” says Development Manager Hanna Castro from Valio.
Common understanding of well-being as a prerequisite for the verification system
According to Frondelius, it is important to get all actors in the industry to speak the same language. “Animal welfare and its evaluation are understood in different ways. A prerequisite for a uniform assessment method is that all parties understand what well-being and its assessment are all about.”
Scientifically, well-being is an animal’s individual experience of its mental and physical state in relation to the environment. Assessment of well-being is challenging, especially at the farm level, because animals are assessed in groups. “An audit visit always gives a snapshot of the current situation. One of the objectives of the project is to find out how the well-being assessment can be combined with, for example, continuous data produced by machine vision, in addition to space audits and data already routinely collected from farms. We want a realistic and encouraging system, the information produced by which can be communicated comprehensibly to consumers. Increasing and verifying animal welfare also supports export goals,” Frondelius says.
In the consortium of the Animal Welfare Verification System project , the company partners are Atria Suomi Oy, DeLaval Oy, Digia Finland Oy, Eläinten terveys ETT ry, Faba osk, GS1 Finland Oy, HKFoods Finland Oy and Valio Oy. The project is part of Valio’s Food 2.0 leading company entity and its main financier is Business Finland.
Food 2.0 builds the food system of the future
