RSPCA Assured - the RSPCA’s ethical food label - has achieved 48% recognition amongst its target market (young professionals and families) two years after it re-branded from Freedom Food.

This is double the 24% figure reported in July 2015 - two months after the new logo launched - and means the charity label has achieved its awareness goal (of 48%) more than a year ahead of its target.  

General consumer awareness has also continued to increase from 26% in July 2015 to 38% in July 2017.

The news comes as RSPCA Assured announces 256 new labelled product lines have hit supermarket shelves in the two years since it launched - plus 154 seasonal lines.

These include new products in Aldi, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, Ocado, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, bringing the total number of RSPCA Assured products in retail to more than 1,129.

The amount of food carrying the RSPCA Assured label has also increased about 33% since it launched two years ago (comparing quarter one 2015 to quarter two 2017).

Further more than 300 new farms have joined the scheme since it re-branded as RSPCA Assured, bringing the total number of members to 3,746.

Brazier concludes: “RSPCA Assured is still in its infancy.  There is still much more work to be done and it will take time to realise its full potential. But early indications of its success are strong and the future looks promising.”

Notes to editors:

• Atomik Research carried out a survey of 2,000 adults in June 2017 to measure awareness of RSPCA Assured
• There are currently about 42 million terrestrial farm animals - plus many millions of salmon and trout - being farmed under the RSPCA Assured scheme
• About one fifth of all UK pig production, around 50 per cent of egg laying hens and about 64 per cent of Scottish farmed salmon are farmed to RSPCA welfare standards

• For a product to be RSPCA Assured labelled all aspects of an animal’s life must have been covered by the RSPCA’s welfare standards including on farm, in transport and at the abattoir.  RSPCA standards must also be met by the processor and packer
• Traceability checks are carried out on RSPCA Assured products from supermarket shelf back to farm to check they truly qualify for the RSPCA Assured label
• All RSPCA Assured members - including farms, processors, packers, hauliers and abattoirs - are subject to annual assessments by scheme assessors and monitoring visits are carried out by RSPCA farm livestock officers on a proportion of the membership annually
• Sainsbury’s is the largest retailer of RSPCA Assured products in the UK

If you are a journalist, please contact:

Rebecca Lenik, media relations manager

01403 821752
rebecca.lenik@freedomfood.co.uk

Carole Stewart

07770 881578
carole@hammondpr.co.uk

RSPCA press office

0300 123 0244