We are pleased to announce that Waitrose has once again been awarded Best Retailer at the Compassion in World Farming Awards, held in Brussels last week.

Compassion in World Farming is the world’s leading authority on animal welfare in the food and agricultural sectors, and has since 1967 campaigned for animal welfare standards in various sub-sectors of the industry – including lobbying against live export, conducting various campaigns in opposition to factory farming and holding a key position in the 2007 ban on veal crates across the EU.

Since 2004, CIWF have given awards to retailers and food service brands who uphold strong animal welfare standards as part of their business ethos. Waitrose have received more accolades than any other retailer, with 14 awards in total – including seven Best Retailer awards, and wins in the Good Egg, Good Dairy and Good Chicken sectors.


An online spokesperson for Compassion in World Farming stated of Waitrose, ‘Their constant aspiration to be the best and to do what is right for animals and for their customers makes them true leaders in Europe and they justly deserve the title of Best Retailer.’

Duncan Sinclair, Agriculture Manager at Waitrose, said: “It takes a lot of passion, dedication and hard work to maintain the high standards we have become famous for over the past 30 years. “We owe a considerable amount to the longstanding relationships we have with our farmers and our processors for building that reputation. “Without their loyalty and commitment, our pursuit and retention of such pioneering animal welfare standards would not be possible and we share these accolades with them.” 

Waitrose scored two awards at this year’s ceremony, also picking up the Best Retail Marketing Award, with the CIWF team commending their ‘consistent and high level of communications on farm animal welfare’. We have collaborated with Waitrose on various on-farm marketing projects, and are delighted to see their progressive, welfare-focused marketing campaigns honoured by this award.


As a company who have always placed animal welfare among our top priorities in how we conduct business, we are once again pleased to see Waitrose recognised for their ongoing commitment to the highest standards of animal welfare, and are proud to be one of the suppliers who contribute towards upholding these standards. Waitrose continue to work towards implementing industry-leading welfare standards –in March the supermarket signed up to the European Chicken Agreement which aims to implement an improved set of welfare standards across the European chicken sector by 2026.

Upholding and maintaining an industry-leading animal welfare policies is not something done by businesses in isolation, but by producers who practice good husbandry on farm, hauliers who maintain welfare standards in transport and company employees who undertake animal welfare training and diligently apply this in carrying out their jobs. We would like to take this opportunity to thank every individual who, through these roles, helps Dovecote Park - and Waitrose - maintain our ongoing commitment to animal welfare.