Animal Welfare

Everyone has an opinion on animal welfare. Unfortunately, those opinions are quite often based on assumptions, not facts. Animal welfare is not a black and white topic but instead composed of several criteria. It is based on animal’s own experience of its mental and physical state. Luke has an important role in Finland on bringing facts for assessing and measuring animals’ welfare. Luke also offers various value adding services in the area of animal welfare.

Customer benefits

Luke utilizes the four animal welfare principles defined in the Welfare Quality® system, as well as its twelve specifying criteria. On top of the criteria Luke is able to form a reliable perspective, which has several benefits for the customers:

• Transparency and shared set of criteria for measuring animal welfare make it easier for the consumers to approach the customers
• Consumers see customers as more reliable when they can provide arguments to back up their own and their subcontractors’ choices in activities advancing animal welfare
• Customers can practice social responsibility leadership
• Animal welfare certificates open up new export markets

Services

Luke offers several service packages in the area of animal welfare. All these packages are backed up by collecting welfare data which can then be utilized in various ways. Luke provides support for developing data-collecting applications, as well as consultation for analyzing the data according to multiple criteria. Furthermore, Luke organizes trainings and courses related to the topic.

Application areas

There are many application areas animal welfare measurements and related value adding services. A grocery store chain is an example of a customer which can utilize welfare criteria in multiple ways. The chain works together with several meat, dairy and poultry farms, and other subcontractors. The chain can demand that its subcontractors comply with a sufficient amount of criteria in order to call their activities ethical. Ethicality can then be communicated to consumers which increases their trust and eventually also the chain’s revenues.

Why Luke?

When it comes to animal welfare and assessment criteria development, Luke is a unique operator in Finland. Luke employs an impressive amount of top experts. Their cross-domain expertise can be harnessed to define and offer animal welfare services. Luke also knows the strengths and weaknesses of international measurement and assessment systems.