The Commission has adopted an animal welfare action plan to clarify existing EU legislation on animal welfare and to ensure that related EU policy fields (agriculture, research..) take full account of this aspect. Among the initiatives of the action plan, published in January 2006, is an 'EU animal welfare label' for better promotion of products, such as chicken, which are produced respecting animal welfare requirements.
According to a recent Eurobarometer on consumers' attitudes towards the welfare of farmed animals, 43% of citizens do consider animal welfare when buying meat. However, there are sharp differences between the EU-25, new member states being less attentive on the issue while Scandinavian and Germanic countries are more so.
Surprisingly, 75% of all EU citizens believe they can influence the animal welfare through what they choose to buy but the survey states that they have a hard time understanding what animal welfare friendly production systems mean. So labelling products is considered as a good way to help the consumer make informed choices.
