Service affected: Pig farming; Products affected: Pork as fresh meat, as prepared for human consumption, and ready to eat

Draft of a Third Act amending the Animal Husbandry Labelling Act (Tierhaltungskennzeichnungsgesetz)

The Third Act amending the Animal Husbandry Labelling Act, which is currently under consideration for a vote, fundamentally reforms the Animal Husbandry Labelling Act. The amending act introduces various simplifications designed to reduce the administrative burden on businesses and administrative authorities. In addition, animal husbandry labelling will be extended to include food service establishments and certain processed foods. Another substantive change is the mandatory labelling of imported food products, replacing the previous voluntary participation by foreign market participants. This means that foreign market participants must partake in the animal husbandry labelling system if they wish to place their products on the German market.

Simplifications:
Pig farmers based in Germany, who only use the "barn" husbandry method do not need to submit a notification to the competent authority, as it can be assumed that domestic operators comply with German minimum standards. This measure will ease the administrative burden on the agricultural sector and on the administration.
Furthermore, it will allow the food industry to implement a practice known as ‘downgrading’. This means that pork can be labelled as coming from a less humane farming system than the one actually used during the fattening phase. Within this framework, food businesses themselves decide which farming system is stated on the labelling. This practice-oriented regulation results in more flexibility for food businesses when marketing food of animal origin. This therefore allows food businesses to react flexibly to changing market conditions, in particular with regard to supply and demand. At the same time, final consumers are always provided with information about the (minimum) husbandry standards, since it is now mandatory to label both domestic and imported food products.
Foreign market participants:
The act includes an obligation to label pork in accordance with the Animal Husbandry Labelling Act whenever this pork is intended to be offered on the German market, regardless of whether if it was produced in Germany. This replaces the previous voluntary participation for imported products.
Expansion of the scope to include sow and piglet husbandry:
The Third Act Amending the Animal Husbandry Labelling Regulations introduces an obligation for the husbandry methods ‘barn and space’, ‘fresh air’ and ‘outdoor/pasture’ to comply with the essential minimum requirements of German animal welfare law for sow and piglet husbandry. This includes, amongst other things, the German requirements concerning noncurative interventions (prohibition on piglet castration without anaesthesia), as well as the restrictions concerning the use of gestation crates for sows in breeding centres and farrowing areas. Accordingly, pork from animals that were not kept according to German animal welfare standards when they were piglets (or their sows) will be labelled with the lowest husbandry category "barn", regardless of how the animals were actually kept during the fattening phase.
Food services sector:
Food prepared for human consumption and ready to eat is also subject to the labelling requirement. In particular, this means that animal husbandry labelling can also be found in out-of-home catering, e.g. in restaurants, canteens and at snack stands.