Mercy For Animals has just released the fourth edition of the Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard – the annual benchmarking report evaluating 40 major food companies in Canada on their policies, progress reporting, and roadmaps toward sourcing cage-free eggs, crate-free pork, and BCC-aligned chicken.

This 70-page report is the most comprehensive analysis of corporate animal welfare policy in Canada ever produced, highlighting both company progress and the urgent need for greater transparency.

You can view the website and report here and our press release here.

NEW IN 2024

Industry evaluation highlights: 1) Discrepancies between the BCC and inadequate national poultry welfare guidelines, lack of progress and transparency from companies on the BCC; 2) Concerning lack of growth of cage-free production and global companies’ progress lagging; 3) Varying “crate-free” practices and the need for companies to address the length of time sows still spend in crates.
40 company features: Each sector represented in the report—retail, restaurants, foodservice, manufacturing—has its own ranking and is followed by a one-page feature on each company that outlines the history of their policy commitments, progress, and our recommendations.

TRENDS

Trend toward regional animal welfare reporting in Canada: Since 2020, the number of companies evaluated that are reporting regionally in Canada has increased from 11 to 28 while the number of policies with reported progress has increased more dramatically, from 13 to 48.

*The first edition of the Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard was released in 2021.
Regional reporting in Canada refers to reporting in Canada, the United States
and Canada, or North America.

First-time policy reporting remains steady as reporting updates rise significantly each year: While an average of 9 policies see first time progress reporting each year, the number of policies with updated annual reporting grew from three in 2021 to 27 in 2024 (excluding policies that were reported fulfilled in previous editions of this report).

COMPANY PROGRESS

Cage-free sourcing advances despite lack of producer commitment: McDonald’s Canada, Boston Pizza, and Eggsmart fulfilled their cage-free egg policies one year ahead of their deadlines, while Aramark more than doubled their cage-free progress in Canada
Major poultry players advance welfare in proce

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