Vienna, Austria-based catering company DO & CO Aktiengesellschaft has announced the launch of a comprehensive animal welfare policy developed in collaboration with Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.-based nonprofit Lever Foundation.
DO & CO serves over 180 million meals annually across several airlines, including British Airways, Delta, KLM, and Etihad.
In the newly adopted policy, the catering company committed "to the welfare of chickens, pigs, and seafood" globally, agreeing to source cage-free eggs and require higher welfare standards for farmed animals. The published policy is a stated commitment that by 2030, these standards will be fully enacted.
The policy applies to both direct and indirect suppliers, and the company said the procurement process for selecting and retaining suppliers takes place through non-discriminatory bidding and tendering processes. The policy was informed by E.U. sustainability frameworks, DO & CO said, such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), and the E.U. Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
"At DO & CO, hospitality starts long before the guest is served and extends far beyond the plate,” the company said in agreement documents. “It begins with an absolute passion for our customers reflected in everything we do – from design and sourcing to preparation and execution."
For seafood, DO & CO said the company is committed to better processing and handling measures, aiming to minimize "handling stress by ensuring ethical practices during capture, transport, and slaughter." It also outlines that "time out of water should be under one minute in operations that use holding tanks" and "fish must be processed by humane percussive or electrical stunning," with eyestalk ablation fully prohibited.
DO & CO said farmed fish suppliers must meet the Global Animal Partnership (GAP) standard, RSPCA, or Naturland-assured, and water quality and fish health must be tracked daily. In wild-caught fish, bottom gill nets, trawlers, dredges, explosives, and "unethical practices like using bait fish or removing body parts from live animals" will be prohibited. The company will also require capture times to be under 60 minutes, and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Friends of the Sea-certified products will be prioritized.
