Views are being sought under an open consultation on the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) draft guidance methodology on the animal welfare mandate of the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy.

Submissions can be made on the proposed methodology until 28 March 2022, with the opinions to be published between June 2022 and March 2023.

The agency has said that it was tasked with seeking these public opinions on the draft of its proposed methodology by the European Commission.

Guidance

The EFSA’s new guidance methodology will seek to “harmonise” the approaches used to assess animal welfare across different system and enterprise types, with both the on-farm and transport elements of welfare to be evaluated.

According to the EFSA, the treatment of certain farmed animals, including calves, poultry, pigs and dairy cows, have been identified in particular for further assessment under the methodology.

It is intended that the living conditions of these species will be assessed against the behaviours they would display should they live in more “natural conditions”, the EFSA has said.