Nestlé and Unilever spearhead food industry coalition on animal welfare

The members of the Global Coalition for Animal Welfare (GCAW) are Aramark, Compass Group, Elior Group, Ikea Food Services, Nestlé, Sodexo and Unilever, which jointly serve 3.7 bn customers daily, and have combined revenues of $165bn (£124bn). The five companies alongside Nestlé and Unilever are food service firms with an extensive global reach. Sodexo, a French food services company, works across 80 countries. The American food service giant Aramark has a huge influence in the US, with clients spanning prisons and public schools.

Over the coming month's representatives from the seven member companies will meet animal welfare experts to discuss ways to improve standards further down the supply chain, focusing on cage-free policies, conditions for broiler chickens and farmed fish, antimicrobial resistance and the transportation and slaughter of animals.

The member companies are committed to the coalition for just three years, during which time they will release a report outlining potential commitments – for example, determining maximum journey times for the transfer of animals. No global industry standards are expected to be set. The increasing demand for meat (production needs to double by 2050 to meet demand) means that animals will continue to be farmed at an industrial scale.

Some of the companies involved have been caught up in animal welfare rows in the past. In 2015 Nestle was accused of experimenting on animals, and last year campaigners claimed Ikea was rolling back on its animal welfare commitments.