Nestlé, Unilever and others join forces to form Global Coalition for Animal Welfare

Seven companies including Nestlé, Unilever, and Ikea Food Services have teamed up to form the Global Coalition for Animal Welfare (GCAW).

By uniting animal welfare experts and major companies, the coalition hopes to advance animal welfare standards throughout the global food supply chain.

The GCAW is said to be one of the world's first global food industry-led groups that aim to accelerate the development of standards on key welfare issues.

Other companies in the coalition include Aramark, Compass Group, Elior Group and Sodexo.

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The group has highlighted five core goals it hopes to address to tackle the issue of poor animal welfare.

These include: cage-free policies, improved broiler chicken welfare, farmed fish welfare, antimicrobial resistance, and global standards for transportation and slaughter.

GCAW says it aims to publish a collective action agenda in the first half of 2019.

Nestlé noted that its involvement within GCAW builds on its existing commitment to farm animal welfare.

Last year, the firm announced that it will source cafe free eggs only as ingredients for all its food products globally by 2025.