A new industry report is calling for a transformation in how livestock are fed, highlighting its impact on environmental health and food security.
The Feed Behind Our Food has been published by a group of leading companies from the retail and food industry, including Waitrose, Ahold Delhaize, Target, Nestlé and Hershey.
The report calls for increased scrutiny, noting that animal feed production is projected to grow exponentially to meet future demand.
“It will be very challenging to meet the future demands for livestock and farmed fish products in sustainable ways without transforming the way we produce animal feed,” said Sandra Vijn, a director of the WWF's food programme.
“Food and feed companies alike need to recognise the risks and opportunities this presents to their businesses and work together to achieve this transformation. This report serves as a guide for how they can begin to do that,” Vijn added.
New Initiatives
The report notes that some businesses are already beginning to introduce new initiatives, such as UK supermarket group Waitrose, which is working towards using 100% sustainable soy by 2021 and sourcing more feed raw materials from the UK and Europe.
“Looking at new approaches to feeding livestock helps us meet our sustainability targets and is also good for business,” said Duncan Sinclair, agriculture manager at Waitrose.
“Customers increasingly demand more transparency, not just on what goes into a product, but also on how it is produced. Addressing the sustainability of animal feed by bringing it closer to home through our sustainable forage protein project has not only benefitted the environment, but has helped our farmers improve efficiency,” Sinclair added.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
