The Global Coalition for Animal Welfare (GCAW) is a global platform uniting major companies and animal welfare experts in advancing animal welfare standards throughout the global food supply chain. Consisting of fourteen member companies, GCAW represents some of the largest names in global food production and food service: 2 Sisters Food Group, Aramark, Compass Group, Elior Group, IKEA Food Services, Maple Leaf Foods, Nestle, Sodexo, Starbucks, Tesco, The Cheesecake Factory, The Kroger Co, Tyson Foods and Unilever.
With combined revenues of over USD 590 billion these companies have joined the Coalition to collectively address systemic barriers to improving animal welfare, accelerate the development of standards and drive progress on key welfare issues. GCAW is currently focussed on three species-specific priority work streams addressing the welfare of laying hens, broiler chickens and pigs.
GCAW’s working groups each meet six times per year and have been focused on the following topics in 2022:
Laying Hen Welfare Working Group:
Broiler Chicken Welfare Working Group:
Pig Welfare Working Group:
In addition to the species-specific working groups, GCAW holds quarterly All Members’ Meetings. These meetings provide an opportunity to address wider issues, either concerning multiple species or species not covered by the working groups. Recent All Members’ Meetings have focused on welfare outcome measures, developments in EU animal welfare legislation and the welfare of decapod crustaceans. During 2022, there has been a particular focus on the interplay between animal welfare and other aspects of sustainability. GCAW held an in-person All Members’ Meeting dedicated to this topic, with presentations from Wageningen University & Research on circular food systems, Blonk Sustainability on life cycle assessments of higher welfare production, and the Sustainable Food Trust on the Global Farm Metric.