More than a label: our RSPCA Assured food

15 June 2021

We want farm animals to have better lives – which is why we’re the UK’s biggest seller of RSPCA Assured products.

At Sainsbury’s, we care about ethical food as much as our customers do. And we know customers rely on food labelling to check whether animals have had good-quality lives. That’s why we’re proud to be the UK’s biggest seller of RSPCA Assured products.

When customers see the RSPCA Assured logo, they know the eggs, meat or fish they’re buying comes from farms where animals have had a better life.

Our RSPCA Assured chicken, for example, comes from farms that provide more space, so hens can exercise freely. There’s a richer environment, so chickens can engage in natural behaviours. And there are extra health and diet checks, too.

100%

of our own-brand eggs, farmed trout and salmon is RSPCA Assured

Better welfare, higher sales

We first started our partnership with RSPCA Assured back in 2004, when we began selling RSPCA Assured chicken products. Since then we have expanded our range to include RSPCA Assured salmon (2008), pork (2008), eggs (2009), turkey (2010), and trout (2014) products. Sainsbury’s continues to sell more RSPCA Assured labelled products than any other supermarket, a title held since 2011, with 29% of RSPCA Assured products being sold through Sainsbury’s (Source: 2019 RSPCA Assured Review).

Clive Brazier, Chief Executive, RSPCA Assured says: “When it comes to food, animal welfare is now the UK’s biggest concern, and when it comes to animal welfare no one is more well recognised and trusted than the RSPCA. And as the UK’s largest retailer of RSPCA Assured products Sainsbury’s commitment to the ethical label is making it easier than ever for shoppers to recognise products from animals that had a better life.”

100%

of our Taste the Difference pork, chicken and turkey is RSPCA Assured

Higher welfare British chicken

Our RSPCA Assured chickens are slower growing and come from farms that provide more space, so chickens can exercise freely. There’s a richer environment, so chickens can engage in natural behaviours. And there are extra health and diet checks, too. We have one of the largest and most established range of higher welfare chicken products, giving customers a choice of corn-fed, free range and organic chicken.

"12% of our chicken comes from independently verified, higher-welfare sources"

(Source: Sainsbury’s Animal Health and Welfare Report 2020)

Higher welfare British pork

We source 100% British pork and have done since 2013. We have one of the largest RSPCA Assured range of pork products available to customers in the UK, with all our Taste the Difference pork being outdoor bred and RSPCA Assured, which means that sows stay outdoors for their entire lives. We also offer Soil Association Organic pork products to ensure our customers have the best possible choice, quality and value, when buying higher welfare pork products.

"29% of our pork comes from independently verified, higher-welfare sources"

(Source: Sainsbury’s Animal Health and Welfare Report 2020)

We’ve been working with the same group of farmers – our Pork Steering Group – since 2009, who supply us with the majority of our Red Tractor, RSPCA Assured, and Organic fresh pork. We measure outcomes from these farmers so we can assess the welfare of their pigs, the positive benefits of good management of farms on the welfare of animals, and ensure that all of our pigs experience good health and welfare, regardless of which assurance scheme they are raised in.

“Animal welfare is incredibly important to our customers and to us. In the last year we have seen our customers take even more of an interest in the food they choose to have at home and the welfare and ethical standards these products were sourced to. We’re committed to sourcing with integrity and are proud to be the largest retailer of RSPCA Assured products”. Barney Kay, Head of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Horticulture, Sainsbury’s