Barilla's position on animal welfare

Quality, food safety and nutritional value of products are an absolute priority for Barilla, who every day endeavours to contribute to the wellbeing of people and the Planet.
According to our way of doing business, Good for You, Good for the Planet, Animal Welfare has been one of Barilla’s main working areas since 2012 when we started to report on projects related to Egg Supply Chain.
Our long-term ambition is to purchase all Strategic Raw Materials in a responsible way within 2020, respecting Human and Labor Rights, Animal Welfare and the Planet.
Barilla doesn’t directly manage any animal supply chains. It is committed to ensure that its suppliers comply with legal requirements and beyond-the-law specific animal welfare criteria, encouraging to develop higher animal welfare practices and improvement programs in the countries and/or regions where they are sourcing, processing and marketing animal products.
In line with our sustainable sourcing program (http://www.goodforyougoodfortheplanet.org/) and considering our supply chains of animal origin both for relevance and purchased volumes, we have decided to focus on: 1) cage-free eggs for Bakery and Egg Pasta and 2) meat supply chain for sauces.
Regarding fish, Barilla is not using any farmed fish but only tuna fish. All suppliers of Tuna fish are Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified.    
 
Animal Welfare Criteria 
Barilla acknowledges animals as sentient beings and recognizes that Animal Welfare encompasses both the physical and mental wellbeing of animals as well as their ability to express species-specific behaviors. Appropriate housing and management of farm animals should respect the animals’ needs, according to the following Five Freedoms:

• Freedom from hunger and thirst;
• Freedom from discomfort;
• Freedom from pain, injury and disease;
• Freedom to express normal behavior;
• Freedom from fear and distress.

 Responsible welfare practices should address issues such as housing, enrichment, hygiene, feeding, health and the management of antibiotics, water supply, mutilations, transport, slaughtering practices and traceability.
Management of Animal welfare
 
Animal Welfare standards are included in the contracts signed by eggs and meat suppliers, and they are regularly checked through specific audits. In case a supplier is found non compliant with the agreed animal welfare standard, we set a recovery plan depending on the gravity of the non conformity.
All operative sustainability management including Animal welfare is described in the annual GYGP report (http://www.goodforyougoodfortheplanet.org/).
 
Animal Welfare Practices

• All the animals farmed in our supply chains must have access to appropriate feed and water supply, thus satisfying animal needs while reducing aggressions.
• Stocking density and environmental enrichment should guarantee the welfare and comfort of animals, whilst allowing the expression of specie-specific behaviour.
• Routine mutilations should be avoided, unless necessary to preserve the welfare of the animals.
• The transport of animals should always be conducted minimizing potential causes of stress, and limiting its duration as much as possible. Transports longer than 8 hours should always be avoided. Furthermore, animals must always be stunned before slaughter.
• Antibiotics should always be used responsibly, reducing their use where possible and avoiding the prophylactic use.
• The use of growth promoters must not be allowed.
• Farming animals subject to genetic engineering or cloning and/or their progeny is not allowed.
• Promote the selection of breeds on the basis of traits supporting higher welfare and not only the increase of productivity.

 
Cage-Free Eggs Sourcing
Barilla considers the close confinement of hens as a practice detrimental to Animal Welfare, and as such, Barilla has decided to progressively phase it out from the supply chain within 2020.
Since 2012 all the eggs for “Le Emiliane” Pasta and the Mulino Bianco and Pavesi Bakery Products are from cage-free farms. Starting from January 2017 all the eggs for “Harrys” will come from cage-free farms.
 
Meat Products Sourcing
In 2014 we started an important project with our meat suppliers for the production of Barilla’s sauces and filled pasta aiming at developing new animal welfare guidelines that cover all pork and beef meat procurements. These guidelines respect all the practices stated above.
Suppliers have signed the joint document in 2015 and are already implementing it. It covers 100% of the pork and beef supply for sauces and filled pasta produced in Italy (80% of the total meat used by Barilla).
 
Broiler Chicken
We are committed to source Broiler Chicken meat according to the ‘better’ standard of Compassion in World Farming’s welfare matrix, which has been benchmarked and codified by Compassion in World Farming.
Regional Commitment USA:
By 2024, require chicken suppliers to do the following for 100% of products:

• Transition to breeds of birds approved by RSPCA or Global Animal Partnership (GAP) based on measurably improved welfare outcomes.
• Reduce stocking density to a maximum of 6 lbs./sq. foot and prohibit broiler cages.
• Provide birds enriched environments including litter, lighting, and enrichment that meets GAP’s new standards.
• Process chickens in a manner that avoids pre-stun handling and instead utilizes a multi-step controlled atmosphere processing system that induces an irreversible stun.
• Demonstrate compliance with the above standards via third-party auditing system.

External Recognition
Supported by the international organization Compassion in World Farming, Barilla is going to complete the “egg supply chain” project in Europe and developing the “meat” project in Italy.
Barilla’s Animal Welfare efforts have also been recognized with the European Good Farm Animal Welfare Awards, organized by Compassion in World Farming. In 2011 and 2012 Barilla won the Good Egg Awards on Pavesi, Mulino Bianco and Le Emiliane brands for its egg sourcing policy in Europe, in 2016 also Harry’s brand won the Awards due to his commitment on eggs sourced from cage free farms.