2018-11-05 11:52:35
The Netherlands largest and oldest supermarket chain Albert Heijn has said that it will continue to stock Irish beef despite controversial claims of poor animal welfare standards on Irish farms.
Claims of welfare abuse on Irish beef farms was reported by a host of Dutch news outlets this week after a Dutch animal rights group Wakker Dier made claims of poor animal welfare standards on Irish beef farms, following what it described as ‘undercover research’.
Aberdeen Angus - a well-known Irish beefbred in Ireland and grass-fed. With the integration of traditional pasture farming and advanced technology, the cattles are fed to be of high quality and more tender.A spokesperson for Albert Heijn told local media "we do feel that the excesses have been highlighted here, however regrettable they are".
"We were in Ireland at the companies we work with, we saw that the cattle had enough space, lay quietly and spent a lot of time in the meadow."
The supermarket also backed Bord Bia's Quality Mark stating that "it complies with EU rules and actually more".
Offers you a platform for online shoes shopping in Hong Kong. Find shoes hk, rainboots, plastic shoes and other footwear on the convenient and easy-to-use website. Enjoy free shipping with orders above HKD$600.An Albert Heijn spokesperson told FarmIreland that it has long-term relationships with its Irish suppliers that it does business with and has "good contacts with them".
"The farmers feel responsible for the welfare of the animals and also have a great economic interest in this because animals only grow well when they are well cared for," the spokesperson said.
The Group which made the animal welfare claims said that in the winter of 2017 and 2018, an undercover research team visited 13 Irish farms, some of which it said were part of Bord Bia's Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme (SBLAS) and permitted the 'researchers' to enter the farms and take pictures.
