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The Swiss Animal Protection association is concerned to see the total consumption of meat increase, but that under the label decrease.
Labeled meat that is too expensive or “conventional” meat that is too cheap: competition is distorted, for animal rights activists.
LMS
The Swiss do not seem motivated to turn to more “ethical” meat. While the general appeal of organic is on the risethe observation drawn on Tuesday is bitter for the Swiss Animal Protection Association (PSA): “The share of label meat produced with respect for animals is declining on the market.”
In figures: more than 86 million animals, including a large majority of chickens, were slaughtered in 2021. Of this total, 10.4 million were “labelled”, i.e. 12%, less than in 2020 and than in 2019. “There is reason to speak of a real animal welfare crisis, attributable to the lack of interest from suppliers and a drop in consumer demand”, laments the PSA, which speaks of a ” dramatically negative development”.
The number of animals killed increases every year.
PSA, OFAG and OFS
Lower price, higher demand
The association does not blame consumers, but points the finger at businesses, which allegedly charge high prices for labeled meat, targeting wealthy customers, while competing for low prices for “conventional” meat, which which the PSA calls “a ruinous price war”.
Asked by the “Tages-Anzeiger”, Migros and Coop contest. Migros explains that, given the competition, customers avoid prices that are too high, which does not allow, as the PSA suggests, that retailers take large margins on labeled meat. Coop, for its part, says that the ancillary costs of selling meat under the label (controls, traceability) mean that it is no more profitable than conventional meat. The cooperative adds that it carries out more actions on labeled meat.
For the PSA, you really have to work on prices. “A 10 to 20% approximation of conventional prices and label prices would increase the demand for labeled products by 25% (cattle) to 33% (pigs)”, she says.
(ywe)