METI recognizes the importance of animal welfare

On 2022/4/7, at the House of Councilors Economic and Industrial Committee, Representative Kiyoshi Adachi brought up animal welfare as one of the challenges for Japan’s economy. Actually this is the first time that farm animal welfare has been brought up by the Economic and Industrial Committee. From this, we can see that the discussion on economics and business was completely omitted from the discussion of animal welfare in Japan.

Mr. Kiyoshi Adachi cited “creation of corporate value” and “branding of Japanese food” as reasons for taking up animal welfare at the Economic and Industrial Committee.

He asked how we should tackle animal welfare in the context of ESG investment and the government’s goal of expanding Japan’s agricultural, forestry and fishery food exports to 1 or 5 trillion yen. In response, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hagita said,

“I recognize that, in recent years, there has been an increasing social demand for sustainable initiatives such as the SDGs, and the promotion of animal welfare, as you point out, is one of the important issues that Japan should tackle. Promotion of animal welfare has the potential to bring about economic effects through expanding exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products, such as improving the global corporate value of food manufacturers and promoting Cool Japan by improving the brand power of Japanese foods.”

It’s a pity that METI has not yet taken concrete measures, but it is correct to recognize that animal welfare of livestock products that will be used as food ingredients is important for the future vitalization of the Japanese economy, or to prevent the economy from declining. .

In discussions with businesses, many companies often think of animal welfare as a story of “social contribution” before we explain it. However, a little after the explanation, they realize that the story of animal welfare is the story of the company’s own business, strategy, and the future of the company.

The question asked by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry today seems to signify bringing about that awareness.

Who suffers from delays in animal welfare is not the livestock industry, which is protected by taxes, but companies that have direct contact with consumers such as retail, food processing, and restaurants.