"Animal suffering is animal suffering no matter where it is, but when it's happening in your own backyard - when we should be in a position to guard against it - it hurts more."
- Chris Packham, President of the RSPCA
WHAT IS RSPCA ASSURED?
The RSPCA Assured scheme is a certification program run by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in the UK. It is designed to promote higher welfare standards for farm animals. Farms, food producers, and food retailers that meet the RSPCA's specific animal welfare standards can be certified under this scheme. Products from these certified farms often carry the RSPCA Assured label, a clear signal to consumers that the animals were raised under conditions that are supposedly more humane than standard farming practices.
The scheme covers a range of sentient animals, including chickens, pigs, cows, and fish, with standards focusing on various aspects of animal welfare, such as space, food, water, and general living conditions. The RSPCA Assured label is meant to assure consumers that the animal products they are buying come from farms where the animals were treated according to these welfare standards.
Time and again, with dossiers of evidence, the scheme has been criticised by experts in the field and people within the RSPCA for not living up to its claims and own standards. Investigations have clearly shown intense animal suffering in certified farms with conditions similar to those of conventional factory farms, thereby legitimising cruelty on an industrial scale and misleading consumers into believing that the animals were treated more humanely than they actually were.
FINDINGS
"The workers have a blatant disregard for the welfare of the animals they are due to slaughter and their duties to prevent avoidable pain, suffering, injury or distress.”
- Ayesha Smart, Specialist barrister in animal welfare law and Crown Court judge
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The RSPCA are putting their stamp of approval on factory farms and slaughterhouses
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The scheme contributes to welfare washing through misleading advertising and collaborations with M&S and McDonalds, among others
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The world's oldest and largest animal charity is endorsing and legitimising the farming and killing of animals
Systemic animal cruelty
Across the four slaughterhouses we investigated, experts found systemic animal cruelty. In one slaughterhouse 85% of pigs were stunned incorrectly leaving animals conscious during slaughter, and in another 96% of cows were prodded with an electric goad, a practice banned by the RSPCA, and 46% of cows showed clear signs of panic or escape behaviours. There was also frequent verbal and physical abuse from workers, and animals watching in terror and panic as other animals were killed or stunned in front of them.
Inhumane Slaughter
The scheme not only fails to uphold its own standards but also exposes a harsh truth: no matter how it is framed or regulated, the industrialised process of slaughter inherently prioritises efficiency and profit over the well-being of animals, making cruelty an unavoidable reality. RSPCA slaughter is no better or ‘more humane’ than any other slaughter. It’s not possible for animals to be treated humanely in a slaughterhouse due to the nature of the process and the conditions under which they operate. It is clear that improving welfare standards within these systems can only go so far.
The full dossier of evidence gathered from the RSPCA Assured slaughterhouses has been submitted to the authorities and is available to anyone who wants further information.
Nothing good happens in any slaughterhouses, and, in my opinion, for the ‘Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ to be involved in this on any level leaves them at odds with their objective to protect all animals.
- Dr Alice Brough, ex commercial pig vet with extensive experience on RSPCA farms
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The RSPCA has the opportunity to take a bold and transformative stance, inspiring other organisations and society at large to reimagine a world where slaughterhouses no longer exist. We want nothing more than to work closely to pursue this mission.
As the RSPCA celebrates their 200th year anniversary, it’s time to honour their bold founding values of animal protection—not by compromise, but by leading the charge to end animal farming and slaughter once and for all.
Charlie the pig, rescued from an RSPCA Assured farm