Freedom Food is a wholly owned subsidiary of the RSPCA. It is a non-profit making charity set up by the RSPCA in 1994 to improve farm animal welfare. They are independent from the food industry, and claim to have higher welfare standards than other UK farm assurance schemes.

How is Freedom Food different from other farm assurance schemes?

Freedom Food is the only UK farm assurance and food labelling scheme dedicated to farm animal welfare and where all the animals must be covered by the RSPCA’s welfare standards.

How are products labelled?

The labelling of products is up to the individual, but Freedom Food strongly recommends that individuals use the Freedom Food certification mark in order to benefit from consumer awareness of the scheme.

The Freedom Food certification mark

The Freedom Food label enables shoppers to recognise products that come from animals reared on farms inspected to strict RSPCA welfare standards, with assured traceability from farm to fork.

How much does it cost to become a member of Freedom Food?

The cost of membership depends on the type of operation and the number of animals involved. The annual fee includes 12 months membership, the assessment and the issuing of the certificate.

Assessing members

A Freedom Food assessor inspects all of their members each year. RSPCA farm livestock officers also carry out monitoring visits on a percentage of the members each year to ensure standards are maintained.

Full traceability must be established throughout the supply chain before any product can carry the Freedom Food certification mark.

Who can join?

Farmers, hauliers, abattoirs, processors and packers can join the scheme, providing the RSPCA welfare standards are met.

Flowchart on the joining process

Flowchart on the joining process of freedom foods

Recent Food and Grocery commitments to Freedom Food

Tesco’s gravadlax smoked salmon and fresh salmon fillets bearing the Freedom Food label are now stocked in 200 stores nationwide.
At the beginning of 2008, Sainsbury’s committed to launching a new range of chicken produced to higher welfare standards. In August 2008 it met this promise with the launch of its new range of Freedom Food endorsed chicken. (Source: Sainsbury’s website)
Waitrose said that sales of its Select Farm chicken - which is reared in conditions which exceed the industry's standards - have increased by 15 per cent since the campaign and are still increasing. Its ‘free range’ chicken sales have increased by 22 per cent and its organic sales have increased by 39 per cent.
Asda said it had increased its stock of ‘free range’ chicken by 50 per cent by the end of September 2008. It also now stocks 50 per cent more organic chicken and a Freedom Food corn-fed line.
Somerfield said that since the campaign sales of ‘free range’ poultry have increased by 50 per cent and sales of higher welfare fresh poultry have increased by 40 per cent. The retailer said sales of higher welfare and ‘free range’ poultry increased from five per cent of total fresh poultry sales in January to 14 or 15 per cent by December 2008.
Marks and Spencer, which stocks Oakham chicken - reared in conditions that exceed the industry's standards - as well as ‘free range’ and organic, has acknowledged increased chicken sales since the campaigns.
Selected Co-operative stores are now stocking a range of 'Truly Irresistible' sandwiches using meat and fish from Freedom Food approved suppliers.
Lloyd Maunder, a large chicken producer in the South West, in January 2008 was producing 75,000 chickens under the Freedom Food scheme each week, which represented 15 per cent of its total output. By August 2008, it was producing 250,000 chickens per week under Freedom Food, which will represent 39 per cent of its total output. That represents a 330 per cent increase in just seven months.

Unless stated all information is sourced from Freedom Food’s website and press releases.

Freedom Food guidelines

To obtain the guidelines or for advice simply contact Freedom Food on 0300 123 0014 or email your request along with your postal address to info@freedomfood.co.uk

Find your nearest retail outlet that offers Freedom Food certified products

To find your nearest box scheme, farm shop, butcher or supermarket, simply click here, enter your postcode and let the BigBarn locator map do the rest.