What Migros does for animal welfare

The vast majority of people in Switzerland regularly eat meat as part of their diet. Ensuring animal welfare in the production of this meat is of great importance to Migros for ethical reasons. As a retailer, Migros believes it has a responsibility in this regard and strives to achieve the highest possible standards for all animals. Migros has enjoyed a great deal of success in this area and was named the best retailer in Switzerland in the 'Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare', the most important animal welfare rating system in the world.

Primarily from Switzerland

The greatest leverage for improving animal welfare lies in strengthening Swiss agriculture. In comparison with other countries, Swiss legislation applies significantly higher standards to the keeping of livestock. Migros makes consistent use of this leverage: the vast majority of the products in its fresh meat range come from Switzerland. Almost 100% of its pork and veal comes from Switzerland. For beef, it is over 90% and for chicken over 80%.

Partner for greater animal welfare

Around 70% of all Swiss animals processed for Migros are label animals. This means they are kept to even higher animal welfare standards than those required by law. The most important labels include IP-Suisse and Bio Suisse.

IP-Suisse, the label featuring the ladybird, is committed to eco-friendly and animal-friendly food produced in Switzerland. Migros and IP-Suisse have been working closely together for over 20 years now. Animals kept in accordance with the IP-Suisse standard can go out into the fresh air – on pastures or in permanently accessible outdoor areas. Overall, they have more space to wander around in as well as an area littered with hay and straw where they can lie down in the stable.

Migros markets Swiss beef under the 'Free-range beef' label. In terms of animal welfare, this label has more rigorous requirements than the Bio Suisse guidelines: in addition to year-round access to an outdoor run, the animals also have access to the pasture in summer, where they are allowed to spend at least eight hours a day, weather permitting.

Limits to domestic production

Migros sources as much meat as possible from Switzerland. If demand cannot be met by domestic production, it then relies on imported meat, for example chicken or rabbit meat.

Migros is also dependent on working relationships with international partners for prime cuts of beef (fillet, entrecôte, rump) and lamb (fillet, rack of lamb), as these are not available in sufficient quantities in Switzerland. Seasonal imported products, such as Christmas geese, for which demand fluctuates greatly, also pose a challenge.

Animal welfare ensured for imported meat too

Migros is also committed to animal welfare for meat sourced from abroad – despite accusations to the contrary from animal welfare associations.

Migros has ensured that imports of various animal products also comply with the Swiss Animal Welfare Act as a minimum requirement. Extending this to all of our products is not possible. This is partly due to the fact that Migros only purchases partial cuts or only imports them for a limited period of time.

Migros will continue to set requirements for imported products in future – wherever possible in line with high standards of animal welfare.

The fact is that the proportion of meat imported into Switzerland remains low overall. Migros gives priority to Swiss meat. These products are prominently labelled with the Swiss flag and are easy for customers to distinguish from imported meat.

Transparency with M-Check

In order to provide customers with transparent information, Migros uses the M-Check to indicate the animal welfare conditions for all of its animal products. The evaluation is carried out by the School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL. The more M-Check stars a product displays, the higher the animal welfare conditions. This also applies to meat sourced from abroad. The rating system provides clear guidance for anyone who cares about animal welfare when shopping.