Carrefour launches ‘Act for Food’ programme

Its ‘Act for Food’ programme is designed to meet current food safety, product origin and agricultural relationship issue and meet customers’ new expectations around welfare, provenance and sustainability.

Reduce/end antibiotic use in livestock farming

Among the 9 areas that include the poultry sector is a commitment to reduce or completely end the use of antibiotics in livestock farming, guaranteed transparency in relation to product traceability through blockchain technology and ensure animal feed is GMO-free.

Backed by a major television, social media and print advertising campaign in countries, the campaign aims to provide the company’s 13 million daily customers with healthy, high quality food.

Carrefour aims to end the use of antibiotics on its Quality Line farms for rearing fowls and chickens. Certified chickens sold on rotisseries are also reared without antibiotics and products in these lines will be identified on stores shelves with labels featuring the wording, “reared without antibiotics.”

Research into further improving animal welfare

At the same time, the company said, it would undertake research to further improve animal welfare and living conditions to prevent stock from getting ill and find natural therapeutic solutions that did not involve antibiotics.

GMO-free

Carrefour is encouraging its partners to use French plant proteins in order to protect local biodiversity and ensure that it is GMO-free, which is has already done for its Carrefour Quality Line laying hens and chickens as well as Reflets de France chickens, that are fed on French cereals and soya. France now grows its own soya as well as rapeseed, lupin and peas.

Blockchain technology

And it plans to roll out blockchain technology – piloted through its Auvergne chicken – to cover Loue farmhouse eggs and Noel fattened chicken, ensuring the technology is in place for all of its Quality Line food products by 2022.