Mixed reactions on pending Swiss factory farming ban as animal welfare and meat production collide

23 Sep 2022 --- Intensive factory farming is in the spotlight this weekend as Switzerland prepares to vote on whether to ban it in the country and block imports produced in this way. The forthcoming referendum is causing a mixed reaction, with farmers slamming the potential move as devastating for their industry while animal welfare and plant-based proponents push for the groundbreaking legislation.

The move would make Switzerland the first country in the world to enforce such a law.

Some say a potential ban will fail to prevent cheaper imports of factory-farmed meat anyway, while others claim outlawing intensive factory farming is overdue and demanded by today’s conscientious consumers.

The ban would give animals the constitutional right not to be intensively farmed, which will be added to the already existing constitutional provision on animal welfare and dignity, which protects most animals apart from a few exceptions for vertebrates.

However, it is not clear how the constitutional amendment would circumvent already signed trade agreements under international law. Opposers claim that Switzerland will still have to honor existing trade deals.

“The initiative would like to apply the same rules to imports as to what would be newly required of Swiss production. Because of Switzerland's international commitments, we believe that this is not realistic or would have major economic consequences for Switzerland,” Michel Darbellay, head of production, markets and ecology at the Swiss Farmers Union (SBV), tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

“The initiative will have no effect on meat consumption. It would only reduce Swiss production by 90% for chicken, by two thirds for eggs and by half for pork. The direct consequence would be a sharp increase in imports from countries where animal husbandry conditions are weaker than in Switzerland, which already has some of the strictest standards in the world,” he continues. 

National polls show that the Swiss would oppose the initiative, however the predictions are between their margin of error.

Meat prices in Switzerland more than double the EU average.Low meat consumption
Switzerland already consumes less meat than most of its European neighbors with an average of 50.91 kg of meat per person per year. This is partly because of very high import costs in Switzerland. Cheaper cuts can be found in nearby Germany. 

Eighty-one percent of consumption comes from national animals, according to 2020 numbers from Proviande, the Swiss international branch organization for the meat industry. This is significantly less than the European average for that year which is 68 kg, according to European Commission data. 

If the ban achieves its objectives it could bring meat prices to unseen levels, and derail the enviable 2.5% food inflation rate in the country – considerably lower than the 13.99% EU average.

Meat prices in Switzerland are already 244.5% the EU average, doubling the prices of neighboring Germany, Italy and Austria and 89% higher than in France. 

The ban would give animals the constitutional right not to be intensively farmed, this right will be added to the already existing constitutional provision on animal welfare and dignity, which protects most animals apart from a few exceptions for vertebrates.

Animal welfare
The proposal says the Swiss government would have to set stricter requirements for animal-friendly housing and care, access to the outdoors, slaughtering practices and the maximum group size per pen.

All farms, no matter the size, would have to follow new animal husbandry rules. 

Another advantage of imposing a ban, according to some, is that it would reduce the reliance on soy animal feed. This in turn would have an indirect impact of fighting deforestation. 

Moves to ban meat on the up Haarlem, Netherlands, banned meat advertisements in public spaces.
Sunday’s vote highlights how the movement toward reducing meat consumption is starting to have a legal component more often. While there remains a general call, especially by plant-based proponents, to cut meat consumption in favor of plant-based proteins which they claim have less of an environmental impact, the issue of reducing meat consumption is more than that. 

There are on-going cases around the world which have an enforced legal framework. 

Haarlem, in the Netherlands, is now the first city in the world to ban meat ads to discourage meat consumption. The ban regards advertisements in all public spaces.

Recently, ProVeg International lawyers stepped in at the last minute in South Africa when authorities were poised to remove plant-based products from the shelves which contained meat-like words and phrases on the label. This followed a ban in the country which says words like “meatballs,” “burgers” and “nuggets.”

By Marc Cervera and Gaynor Selby