To guide your team, Sustainable Solutions Group facilitates development of a Crawl-Walk-Run approach with actionable steps to take advantage of business opportunities to earn consumer loyalty to your brand’s value equation.

According to the global Business Benchmark for Animal Welfare  (BBFAW) report, “animal welfare is now serious business rather than a niche option. Animal welfare has shot up the priority list for food companies, but reporting remains “relatively underdeveloped.”  Consumer and political pressure has pushed standards up beyond the niche, premium brands.”
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Measured animal welfare criteria need to appear in your sustainable food strategy and sustainability reporting. You need to have a complete picture of animal welfare conditions in your supply chain.

​Cage-free eggs, gestation crates, piglet thumping, day-old male chicks being ground alive, fast-growing broiler chickens, castration without pain relief, lame dairy cows, and chickens scalded alive are just some of the humane issues animal advocacy groups are bringing to light and there will be more in the coming years. Your customers are and will be seeing painful images of these issues on social media videos.

It is most important to establish your team and develop an approachable, believable and doable animal protein humane sourcing strategy. There are opportunities in increasing supply chain animal welfare and reducing antibiotics and growth hormones.

What is our Responsible Sourcing Roadmap?
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As shown in our diagram, it is our data-driven and measurable Crawl-Walk-Run approach to more responsible sourcing over time.

1. Sustainable Solutions Group begins with an Issue Awareness Webinar for your Merchant & Buyer teams. We are uniquely positioned to bring clarity to food industry animal welfare sourcing issues.
2. We facilitate the development of your Responsible Sourcing Vision.
3. We conduct an Initial Animal Welfare Humane Sourcing Assessment using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are scientifically grounded in the RSPCA Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare and are important to Dr. Temple Grandin, consumers and animal advocacy groups.
4. Sustainable Solutions documents your Current State of animal welfare in protein sourcing and provides written Recommendations

• to develop Sourcing Goals & Strategies
• that drive sourcing Actions
• of KPIs that are annually Measured and Reported
• with careful messaging for each stakeholder group (NGO’s, Customers, Investors and Staff)

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Responsible Sourcing Roadmap FAQs

What is a Responsible Sourcing Roadmap?

A Responsible Sourcing Roadmap outlines how your brand can achieve long-term goals for animal welfare, more humane sourcing, and ESG compliance. The Roadmap includes year-to-year glide paths using our Crawl–Walk–Run framework, ensuring a pragmatic approach with animal welfare improvements over time.

How is the “Crawl–Walk–Run” approach used in animal welfare consulting for food brands?

Our Crawl–Walk–Run approach has actionable steps for food brands to advance from basic industry compliance to improvements in animal welfare over time to satisfy customers, please shareholders, and take advantage of business opportunities in earning loyalty to your brand’s value equation. Measured animal welfare KPIs are available to appear in your ESG & sustainability reports.

How can a Responsible Sourcing Roadmap improve brand reputation?

Measurement of key animal welfare KPIs as a result of the annual Humane Sourcing Assessment puts food companies in a better position to avoid and resolve public controversies by showing a genuine commitment to animal welfare improvements over time. This proactive approach builds brand credibility, strengthens consumer trust, and enhances investor confidence.