Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure food and drink sold in the UK is labelled according to RSPCA standards.

We remain firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.

The RSPCA Assured scheme is an animal welfare assurance initiative which sets standards which go beyond the UK’s legal baseline. It is independent from Government.

While food businesses can choose whether to adopt RSPCA Assured standards and apply this label to their products, an underpinning rule of existing legislation is that food information, whether it be mandatory or is provided voluntarily, must not mislead.