The BILLA animal welfare initiative sets further milestones: BILLA offers customers a wide range of animal welfare products, with BILLA PLUS even offering the largest range in Austria. At the fresh meat counters, BILLA only offers fresh meat in animal welfare quality and, with the organic brand Ja! Natürlich organic brand and the "Fair zum Tier" seal, BILLA is also striving to steadily expand its range of packaged meat products from Austrian farms.
Marcel Haraszti, CEO of Rewe International AG: "People in Austria are consuming meat more and more consciously, their quality expectations are rising, even in times of price increases and high inflation. Animal welfare is no longer a niche. This is proven not only by studies, but also by our sales figures. Across our entire meat range in all BILLA and BILLA PLUS stores, animal welfare products will exceed the 50 percent mark in sales figures this year. They already have a market share of 60 percent for chicken, 45 percent for beef and 25 percent for pork. Our goal is to double the share of animal welfare pigs by the end of the year and to significantly increase the share of beef. In the interests of the animals, customer requirements and the environment. That is why we are continuing to invest more in expanding our animal welfare range. We want to be able to offer our customers even more meat products from improved husbandry conditions at family-friendly prices. To do this, however, we need further cooperation with farmers who want to switch to our animal welfare programs."
BILLA is looking for new partner farms for more animal welfare on the BILLA and BILLA PLUS shelves
BILLA has made it its goal to set an example for conventional animal husbandry in Austria, as this still accounts for the majority of common forms of husbandry. Every change in this area, no matter how small, is therefore an important step in the right direction, and Austria has some strict animal welfare laws that define the requirements for species-appropriate husbandry of farm animals. Together with committed meat producers from all federal states, BILLA has been committed to sustainable improvements for farm animals for decades and offers its products to customers under the Ja! Natürlich brand or the "Fair zum Tier" seal in all BILLA and BILLA PLUS stores. In order to be able to meet the increasing customer demand for animal welfare products in the future, BILLA is increasingly looking for new farms that want to switch to the BILLA animal welfare programs, for example in the area of grazing cattle.
"The changeover in production and supply can only succeed within the framework of partnerships. Long-term partnerships with Austrian producer groups and farmers are nothing new for us, but have been common practice for several decades. We want to motivate more farms to take a closer look at the issue of animal welfare and convert their production to meet the needs of animals and customers. We support them with long-term contracts, a guaranteed purchase obligation for all animals and the payment of general supplements. We see it as our responsibility to purchase and process all parts of an animal," says Marcel Haraszti.
