The Covid pandemic has taught us many things, but one of the most surprising emerged last week with the news that mink kept on farms in Denmark have developed a new and potentially very dangerous type of “mutant coronavirus”, which has spread to humans. (Perhaps the animals really are trying to wipe out humankind?) That has led to restrictions on people from that country travelling to the UK, and other precautions are being taken with similar outbreaks reported in the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the US.
Fur farming was banned in the UK back in 2000 and I had no idea it still continued at scale in other European countries. Some such as France and Netherlands are phasing it out, but Denmark is actually the world’s largest producer of mink fur, which is probably the most surprising fact in this whole story, and the biggest export markets are China and Hong Kong.
Wearing real fur has become socially unacceptable to many, so it was a particualr shock to see Denmark, which we generally tend to think of as a very progressive, even “woke” nation, supporting this industry. It also seems surprising that China doesn’t just develop its own mink farming industry – it can’t be too difficult, you would think.
If we don’t often think about animals farmed for fur, production of meat and other animal-based food products such as eggs or milk has for some time been a high-profile topic, with campaigners highlighting bad practice and at times exposing horrible stories about the treatment of animals. In 2019, a French investigation found very unpleasant conditions and processes around production of duck foie gras in a French factory. This horrified even many famously carnivorous French consumers, as ducklings were starved to death or suffocated, and beaks were removed even before the force-feeding to create the delicacy started.
Consumer and charity campaigns against foie gras have led to many restaurants and retailers stopping sales of the item, and some cities, including New York, have even banned it from restaurants. Its production is banned in the UK - but chef Alexis Gauthier from the eponymous London restaurant has created a vegan alternative which he claims is “better than the original”. It is extremely good, I can confirm! (Any vegans wanting a lockdown treat should take a look at his home-delivery boxes too).
There are other worrying case studies. “Free range eggs” conjures up an image of happy hens, roaming over the fields and through the woods. But again, investigations have found a very different picture in some cases, as the legal definition of “free range” in some countries allows hens to be crammed into sheds with limited access to the open air. Other larger farm animals such as cows, pigs and sheep are sometimes (and in some places) treated in a manner that many of us would find cruel or unacceptable.
There probably aren’t many mink fur category managers reading this, but any organisation that is buying animal products, either for further processing or to sell directly as retailers, caterers or similar, needs to consider these issues. This is another area whether consumer views continue to change rapidly, and the growth of veganism is potentially a disruptive change for the relevant industries. That’s even before we consider the growth in artificial meat products, and new technologies that are opening up some amazing possibilities.
As with many other Procurement with Purpose issues, the starting point for buyers is to understand suppliers and supply chains. You might not be able to identify every farm (let alone every animal) if you buy bulk meat to create frozen ready meals or dog food, but we’re heading towards a situation where consumers may well expect that level of understanding. They will also expect you as the buyer to be taking action to try and ensure that animal welfare considerations are a high priority.