The moo-ve is a step in the right direction for animal welfare (Picture: Getty/Metro.co.uk)

Marks and Spencer have become the first major retailer to source all of its fresh milk from RSPCA Assured dairy farms.

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The store is supplied by 37 farms, and each has achieved the RSPCA Assured certification, which covers all aspects of bovine welfare associated with milk production, including calf rearing, accommodation, health planning, transport, feed and grazing.

From today, all fresh milk at M&S will carry the RSPCA Assured logo on its label.

The move covers all milk products in the store, however it doesn’t cover their organic milk, as this is not supplied by the M&S Milk Pool.




This comes after shocking images surfaced back in March of calves crammed into solitary pens at a farm that supplied milk to M&S.

It would be great if this was a typical image in the UK dairy industry but unfortunately, this is not the case (Photo by Jonathan Nicholson/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

RSPCA auditors visited every single farm that supplies the store during the months of April, May and June this year.

They checked 332 standards on each visit and the average number of non-compliances was two per farm, which means that on average, 99% of standards were met.

14 of 37 farms met every single standard, and all farms who weren’t up to scratch made changes to rectify their standards by mid-July.

A vet checking a calf at a dairy farm in North Yorkshire (noit an M&S supplier) (photo by Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)

Consumers are able to view RSPCA Assured assessment reports for each of M&S’s Milk Pool supplier farms via their interactive online map

This map shows where M&S milk is sourced from, summary results for each farm and a link to download the full assessment report.

‘Thanks to M&S thousands more dairy cows will now have a better life reared to RSPCA welfare standards,’ says Clive Brazier, Chief Executive Officer of RSPCA Assured.

‘And not only that but, for the first time ever, consumers will be able to buy RSPCA Assured labelled milk in a high street retailer.

‘This is a major step forward for improving dairy cow welfare and we hope other retailers will follow suit.’

A dairy farm in Scotland (not an M&S supplier) (Picture: Getty)

The move covers over 40 products at M&S, including all Simply M&S branded milk (one, two and four pint, skimmed, semi-skimmed and whole fat), all fresh milkshakes and the milk used in M&S Cafés.

So long as these welfare standards are withheld, this is a move in the right direction for the dairy industry, and hopefully more supermarkets will follow suit.

While ardent vegans will argue that this is not enough, the reality is that people will continue to drink cow’s milk for a long time to come, and moves like this should be welcomed as baby steps in the right direction.

After all, if you’re going to take milk from an animal, the very least you can do is treat it well.

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