In line with our wayof doing business, caring for people and the planet, we pay great attention to animal welfare, recognizing animals as sentient beings in their own. For years we have therefore been committed to ensure that all suppliers of raw materials of animal origin comply not only with legal requirements, but also with the highest animal welfare standards and criteria.
Our reference are the Barilla Guidelines on Animal Welfare, drafted in collaboration with Compassion In World Farming (CIWF). In these Guidelines, the Group recognizes the importance of respecting the physical and mental well-being of animals and their ability to express species-specific behaviors by promoting the compliance of the Five Animal Freedoms:
• Freedom from hunger and thirst;
• Freedom from discomfort;
• Freedom from pain, injury and disease;
• Freedom to express the species-specific behavior;
• Freedom from fear and distress.
The standards of the Guidelines on Animal Welfare are an integral part of all of our contracts with suppliers of eggs, meat and fresh milk all over the world and their compliance is periodically verified through specific audits. In addition, all employees involved in supply chains management, particularly in the areas Global Supplier Quality Management and Global Purchasing Unit, attended the Barilla/CIWF in-company training courses on Animal Welfare.
Honoring this commitment, every year we participate in the global benchmark of farmer animal welfare BBFAW (Businiess Benchmark on Animal Welfare).
Our commitment starts way back in 2011 when Barilla decided to eliminate battery cages for egg-laying hens for all global supply chains.
For this purpose, Barilla works with the entire supply chain starting with the farmers, collaborating with authoritative and independent industry experts such as scientific entities and NGOs, carrying out the commitment to countinuously enhance scientifically validated and verifiable improvements.
Barilla's long-term goal is to extend its commitment to improving the breeding phase to all global supply chains, specifically:
• Phasing out routine mutilation practices;
• Phasing out inhumane practices in all its forms;
• Adequate space and environmental enrichment in breeding;
• Responsible medication use, eliminating prophylactic and metaphylactic;
• Special attention to the movement and transportation phase of animals while complying with legal standards.
Furthermore, except in cases where it is explicitly required by law [*], in Barilla we do not evaluate the safety or quality of our products or of our raw materials through animal testing nor do we finance, commission, co-implement or otherwise support this practice, directly or through third parties. We are committed to ensure that our suppliers use alternative methods that can meet regulatory requirements. For this reason,
we will publish and share any new research or discovery on alternative methods to animal testing developed by Institutions, scientific communities and NGOs and we will continuously collaborate with third parties to implement new non-animal testing methods.
[*] “explicitly required by law" means that the only animal testing the Company allows is that which is explicitly required by law or by written requirements having the full force and effect of law by government agencies. An animal test is not “explicitly required by law” if a law or written requirement having the full force and effect of law states that the test is optional or is merely recommended.
We use only quality wheats
In all geographies in which we produce our pasta, we work with local farmers to develop the value chain in terms of quality and economic, environmental and social sustainability. We do it by applying the Barilla Sustainable Farming Code.
Non-GMO ingredients
Barilla has decided to adhere to the precautionary principle and therefore not to use genetically modified ingredients, guaranteeing non-use of GMOs for all its branded products.
Our support to communities
Supporting non-profit organizations close to communities in need is a concrete commitment for Barilla.
Sustainable Packaging
We have always paid close attention to our packaging, both in the design phase of new solutions and in the constant improvement of the packages already developed.