Certified products and ingredients
Coles is committed to using independent and internationally recognised certification programs for our own brand tea and coffee, and where cocoa and palm oil are used as an ingredient in Coles Own Brand products. These programs support ethical practices and environmental protection in these supply chains.
Animal welfare
Coles cares about how our food is produced and sourced and we are committed to working towards a sustainable future that supports local farmers and food producers, while also looking after the welfare of animals through programs such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA Australia) Approved Farming Scheme. Coles’ vision is to ‘become the most trusted retailer in Australia and grow long-term shareholder value’, and we believe that protecting and improving the welfare of animals in our supply chains is central to gaining and maintaining customer trust.
Our
Animal Welfare PolicyOpens in new window
is based around the five freedoms of animal welfare:
- Freedom from hunger and thirst;
- Freedom from discomfort;
- Freedom from pain, injury and disease;
- Freedom to express normal behaviour; and
- Freedom from fear and distress.
This policy sets out our expectations regarding the treatment of animals in our supermarket Own Brand global supply chains.
We are proud to be the first major Australian supermarket to deliver:
- All supermarket Own Brand fresh beef with no added hormones;
- All supermarket Own Brand shell eggs cage-free;
- All supermarket Own Brand fresh pork, ham and bacon sow stall-free and produced without artificial growth promotants;
- All supermarket Own Brand fresh chicken RSPCA Approved;
- All supermarket Own Brand fresh turkey RSPCA Approved;
- All supermarket Own Brand fresh free-range pork RSPCA Approved; and
- All supermarket Own Brand fresh free-range chicken RSPCA Approved.
Our Animal Welfare Policy objectives are assessed through regular audits of food manufacturing sites, certification to farm assurance standards and the assessment of farms against our Coles Farm Program requirements. These results are reported by the Quality and Responsible Sourcing teams to commercial and senior management. RSPCA Australia assesses our partner chicken, turkey and pork abattoirs, through the RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme for conformance with RSPCA Approved Standards. In addition to this, all our partner red meat and pork abattoirs are independently audited by the industry body AUS-MEAT; to the
Australian Livestock Processing Industry Animal Welfare Certification System (AAWCS)
or international equivalent.
The day-to-day management of animal welfare standards, management and monitoring at Coles is managed by the Responsible Sourcing Manager – Agriculture.
Sourcing
Coles has a commitment to source animal products from farming operations that have a standard of animal welfare which meets our high expectations and, where applicable, hold animal welfare certification. We are continuously working with our suppliers to improve animal welfare standards in a way that supports Australian farmers and food producers, as we know this is important to our customers. Coles ensures that our Animal Welfare Policy is reflected in the supply chain for supermarket Own Brand products through mechanisms including supplier contracts, auditing processes and the Coles Farm Program. The Coles Food Manufacturing Supplier Requirement is a standard that Own Brand suppliers are audited against which includes animal welfare standards for relevant suppliers. For example, where processes involve live animals, poultry, fin fish, or crustaceans, an animal welfare policy must be in place stating the supplier’s intentions to meet all local laws and regulations regarding animal welfare.
Higher welfare ingredients
Coles has been progressively reformulating our supermarket Own Brand products to grow the proportion of products with higher welfare ingredients over the past few years. As of September 2020, we are proud to say that of our Coles supermarket Own Brand products (including fresh and frozen) with pork, beef, eggs, chicken or turkey used as an ingredient:
- 83% of products have sow-stall free pork, ham and bacon ingredients;
- 93% of products have no added hormone beef ingredients;
- 95% of products have RSPCA Approved chicken ingredients; and
- 26% of products have cage-free eggs ingredients.
In addition to the above, all of our supermarket Own Brand Christmas Turkey products are also RSPCA Approved. We do not currently sell any supermarket Own Branded fresh turkey products outside the Christmas period.
Industry Work
Coles participates in industry and animal welfare events organised by state government, researchers and NGOs throughout the year, such as the annual RSPCA Animal Welfare Seminar, the National Primary Industries Animal Welfare Research Development and Extension Forum and the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework (ABSF), an initiative of the Red Meat Advisory Council managed by Meat and Livestock Australia. In FY20, Coles contributed to industry welfare initiatives such as the development of Meat and Livestock Australia’s Feedlot Cattle Welfare Benchmarking Framework. We are a contributing member of the AUS-MEAT Language and Standards Committee, which manages the development of the AUS-MEAT National Accreditation Standards including welfare requirements.
In 2020 our Responsible Sourcing Manager – Agriculture also contributed to the second season of
RSPCA’s Humane Food Podcast
on the topic of antibiotic resistance, usage practices in the Australian agricultural industry and welfare implications of restricting antibiotic use in farm animals.
By participating in these events, we aim to stay up-to-date with the most current animal welfare science and collaborate on initiatives to improve animal welfare standards in the long term.
In May 2019, our key Coles meat, auditing and livestock teams undertook farm animal welfare training and achieved competencies in the Animal Welfare Officer skills set covering humane slaughter and key animal welfare issues for Coles farm animal species.
More information can be found on our
Responsible Agriculture FAQsOpens in new window
.
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We work with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Approved Farming Scheme to offer customers a range of humanely farmed Coles supermarket Own Brand products including indoor raised, free-range and slow grown chicken, turkey and free-range pork. We are also proud to say that we currently have the broadest range of RSPCA Approved products of any major Australian supermarket retailer.
The RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme establishes higher welfare standards (beyond legislative requirements) and commercially achievable production standards for hens, pigs, meat chickens, turkeys, salmon and dairy veal. All farms participating in the Scheme are assessed at a minimum of twice per year, by RSPCA Assessors.
Animals farmed to RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme Standards are housed in an environment that meets their physical and behavioural needs. For example, our free-range RSPCA Approved pork is sourced from RSPCA Approved farms where pigs are provided with shelter and bedding, as well as having permanent access to outdoor areas where they can roam and forage.
RSPCA Assessors also perform annual abattoir assessments to ensure the processing of meat chickens, turkeys, pigs and salmon meets the RSPCA’s detailed animal welfare standards.
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Working with the RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme, we offer a range of humanely farmed chicken, raised on farms that must meet robust animal welfare standards and provide an enriched environment for meat chickens to grow. We were the first major Australian supermarket to launch a supermarket Own Brand range of RSPCA Approved fresh chicken in 2014. Our indoor RSPCA Approved chickens are provided with perches for perching and good quality litter for dust bathing, as well as lower stocking densities compared with conventional systems, so the birds have more room to move. Birds are encouraged to be more active through improved lighting , but also required periods of darkness for rest. At least one pecking object is provided as environmental enrichment for every 1,000 birds.
In September 2018, we launched Coles supermarket Own Brand free range RSPCA Approved chicken in Victoria and New South Wales. In 2019 we then went on to expand the range into all other states.
All Coles free range RSPCA Approved chickens have access to enriched environments where they are able to forage and explore the outdoors for a minimum of eight hours a day. They are provided with a barn for shelter and protection at night and are given the freedom to express their natural, innate behaviours with adequate space to move, perch and dust bathe.
In September 2019, we went on to launch a new poultry offer into Australian supermarkets for the first time called ‘Slow Hills’. This breed of bird is ‘slower growing’ compared with conventional breeds which means it develops muscle at a slower rate. This breed has an average daily weight gain of 55g or less, averaged over the growth cycle according to its breed specification. This represents 2% of all supermarket Own Brand chicken products (fresh and frozen).
Like all Coles supermarket Own Brand chickens, the Slow Hills birds are farmed to the RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme Standards. They are also raised as free range and without the use of antibiotics.
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In 2014 Coles launched Sow-stall free pork which was a first for a major Australian supermarket.
This means that all Coles supermarket Own Brand fresh pork, ham and bacon is sourced from farms that may only confine a sow to a mating station for insemination purposes for a maximum of 24 hours.
This major animal welfare initiative means that approximately ninety thousand sows nationally are no longer kept in small, single-pig stalls for long periods during their gestation.
Further to this, sows kept by suppliers of Coles supermarket Own Brand fresh pork are free to move about in pens and socialise with other sows during their pregnancy and are required to be provided manipulable bedding material such as straw during their breeding cycle so they can perform their natural ‘nesting’ behaviours.
Coles supermarket Own Brand sow-stall free pork undergoes rigorous auditing by independent third-party auditors against the Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance Program
Customer Specifications for Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd (APIQ + CSC)
Pork Standard. All Coles supermarket Own Brand fresh pork suppliers are also assessed to more stringent requirements developed by APIQ and Coles on areas such as bedding, enrichment, husbandry practices stocking densities, antibiotics, growth promotants and hormone use.
Coles supermarket Own Brand free range pork is the only RSPCA Approved fresh pork stocked nationally by a major Australian supermarket. Pigs reared to RSPCA Approved standards have space to move, forage, socialise and explore. Sows are not confined to sow stalls or farrowing crates, instead they have good quality bedding in a free farrowing environment which provides a comfortable area to rest and material to perform their natural nesting behaviours.
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In July 2019, Coles began direct sourcing Own Brand fresh milk from dairy farmers in Victoria and south coast New South Wales. We then expanded the program into South Australia where we began collecting milk from farmers in July 2020 and from October 2020 in Western Australia.
The Coles Sustainable Dairy Development Group (CSDDG) has been established to support the direct milk sourcing model. The purpose of the CSDDG is for Coles and its dairy farmers to work together to enhance sustainable farming practices. Farmers participate in the CSDDG through regional meetings and events which occur throughout the year.
The CSDDG, supported by investment from Coles, has delivered on-farm initiatives including purchasing defibrillators, implementing animal health-care technology trials and providing biosecurity signage, masks and hand sanitiser in response to COVID-19
Through our work with the CSDDG, Coles has undertaken a mastitis treatment pilot with eight of its dairy farms across four dairying regions in New South Wales and Victoria. Coles purchased eight ‘Mastatest’ machines that use colourmetric techniques to analyse the bacterial strains present (or not present) in milk samples and then recommend the most appropriate treatment method for the individual cow being tested.
The trial provided farmers with improved health data mapping insights enabling them to understand which antibiotics to use, not to use or when to consider seeking further advice from a vet. The data is also fed into a national dataset for future mastitis management decision making.
Whilst the trial is still in early stages of development, data to date so far suggests that Mastatest machines are providing improved precision of antibiotics use for treatment of mastitis in dairy cows. The Mastatest machine also identifies when bacterial infection is not the illness requiring treatment. This allows farmers to further investigate likely illnesses and treat appropriately. This has positive implications for antimicrobial stewardship through reduced reliance on antibiotics. It also means cows are more likely to be cleared of illness in a shorter timeframe and returned to the milking herd due to the precision of treatment applied.
Ultimately targeted treatment presents farmers with opportunities to reduce treatment costs, optimise milk production and improve animal health and welfare management. Coles is now progressing to the next phase of the trial with a rollout of the machines across directly contracted dairy farms over the next 12 months.
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We understand that the responsible use of antibiotics in agriculture is an important issue for animal and human health. Coles’ position on antibiotics is one of responsible use, where we follow the guidance of the Five R’s and AMS Framework as detailed by the Animal Health Australia report on
Antimicrobial Stewardship in Australian Livestock Industries.
Since 2014, we have been working on supplier programs that incorporate herd health plans, biosecurity measures and alternatives such as probiotics and vaccinations to prevent the need for antibiotic treatment.
Through our work with the RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme and the Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance program, Coles also requires all supermarket Own Brand fresh chicken, pork and turkey suppliers to avoid the prophylactic use of antibiotics to suppress sub-clinical diseases.
The RSPCA standards for chicken and turkey require that any use of antibiotics is included as part of the farm’s veterinary health plan and that the RSPCA is notified of any prophylactic treatment. Producers are also required to have an antimicrobial stewardship plan. For RSPCA Approved pigs, any use of antibiotics must be detailed in their veterinary health plan, which must be reviewed each year in consultation with the attending veterinarian.
Coles is also a member of the Animal Industries’ Antimicrobial Stewardship Stakeholder Group which aims to promote antimicrobial stewardship within agriculture and address issues relating to antimicrobial resistance. This group includes the Office of the Australian Chief Veterinary Officer, state departments of primary industry, international experts in antimicrobial stewardship, and Australian livestock industry representatives from beef, dairy, eggs, pork and chicken meat.
Products
In 2015, we met our voluntary commitment to remove microbeads from Coles Brand products. This was two years ahead of plan.