Unilever Plc

Compassion introduced a new special recognition award in 2012 to acknowledge the significant impact three of its key partners, including Unilever, have made on farm animal welfare in their respective marketplaces. The European Leader Award reflects the fact that each winner is committed to working across more than one award category; they are demonstrating continuous improvement in farm animal welfare as part of their corporate social responsibility strategy and that they continually promote their awards and farm animal welfare as part of their marketing and communications activities. Our European Leader Award winners are helping us to broaden the international reach of our programme which is having a positive impact on an increasing number of farm animals across the globe.

"Farm Animal Welfare has been one of Unilever's core sustainable agriculture indicators since 2005.We recognize that many consumers do have concerns about animal welfare and we take these concerns seriously. We have several ongoing initiatives which include free-range eggs in Hellmann's mayonnaise and the Ben & Jerry's Caring Dairy programme that sources milk for our ice cream. We implement our sustainable sourcing plan over a number of years in order to allow our suppliers to adapt to our animal welfare requirements.

As Global Issue Leader Animal Welfare I have ensured that we work on the basis of a global corporate policy for farm animal welfare. I have initiated the roll-out for eggs and dairy ingredients into other regions and have started the work on meat sourcing. Animal Welfare is included in the Unilever Sustainable Agriculture Code. This code covers practices that all our suppliers should strive to achieve. We encourage our suppliers to participate in initiatives to improve animal welfare standards in the countries and/or regions where they are sourcing and processing products from animal origin. Consumers recognize our work on sustainable sourcing and the response on our animal welfare initiatives has been positive. Our ambition is to purchase all our animal-derived ingredients from sustainable sources, taking into account the different regional perceptions and adequate supply.

Working together with our suppliers and organizations like Compassion in World Farming will help us to deliver the results we aim for. Happy cows and happy chickens are part of our future!"

Willem-Jan Laan, Director Global External Affairs - Unilever