Product sourcing and product quality, including animal welfare

Overview
We have a fully traceable supply chain, and all of the company’s food suppliers have a globally recognised food-production standard, eg accreditation by the British Retail Consortium.

There are strict specifications for all products, so that high standards of quality and food safety are met, including:

• detailed product specifications
•  complete product traceability
• regular DNA-testing on all processed meat products, steaks and fish
• speciation tests

We promote long-term relationships with our suppliers. 

Where practicable, we work with suppliers, contractors and partners to minimise environmental impact and encourage sustainable sourcing. 

Where possible, we use British products and support British farming. For example, our chips are made using 100% British potatoes; our beef burgers are made using 100% British and Irish beef; our sausages are made using 100% British and Irish pork; all of our beef steaks come from the UK and Ireland.

We use only free-range eggs with the British Lion quality mark, from the UK.

We have worked with the Rainforest Alliance since 2008. The Tetley tea and Lavazza coffee we serve come from Rainforest Alliance-certified farms. In 2010, we were awarded the Sustainable Standard-Setter Award, by the Rainforest Alliance, for ongoing dedication, innovation and leadership in environmental conservation.

We support brewers of all sizes, across the UK and Ireland, so that our customers can enjoy a diverse range of real ales. We support over 350 UK brewers, delivering over 4,000 ales through beer festivals, exhibitions, meet-the-brewer events and the promotion and stocking of their beers. We aim for every pub to have at least four ales available, at all times, including those locally sourced.

Ethical business
Also see:

• Supplier charter
• Antibribery and anticorruption policy
• Modern slavery and human-trafficking statement

We carry out our business honestly and with respect for the rights and interests of those involved.

We endeavour to ensure that relations with suppliers and business partners are fair and mutually beneficial.

Employees are not permitted to accept bribes or enticements of any kind, including gifts or hospitality.

In sourcing products from many countries, we aim to uphold the International Labour Organization’s agreed standards of labour (including a ban on child labour and forced labour). We expect our suppliers to treat their employees fairly, honestly and with respect for their human rights.

Farm animal welfare
We have a farm animal welfare policy which sets out our required standards on the close confinement of animals, genetic engineering or cloning, growth promoting substances, use of antibiotics, use of routine mutilations, preslaughter stunning and long-distance live transportation. Suppliers are selected and then audited to monitor their compliance with our farm animal welfare policy.

We are a member of Sedex – the world’s largest collaborative platform for sharing responsible sourcing data on supply chains (including labour rights, health and safety, the environment and business ethics), used by over 50,000 members in more than 150 countries.

Supplier charter
The supplier charter document sets out all of the requirements of working with Wetherspoon, as well as those policies and procedures applicable to all suppliers.

Farming standards, animal-sourcing and welfare
Wetherspoon believes that it has a duty to conduct its business responsibly and ethically; this extends to the sourcing of food products. Our food-sourcing policy refers to all of our menu items and ingredients containing meat, seafood, dairy and/or egg products.

We are committed to the ‘five freedoms’ as defined by the Farm Animal Welfare Committee (2009). 

These form the basis of internationally recognised animal welfare practices.

The routine use, by suppliers, of close-confinement systems in the rearing of farm animals is, where possible, avoided in the supply chain. This includes no cages for laying hens or broiler chickens and no tethering of dairy or beef cattle. The exception is with pigs, where farrowing crates are used under
certain circumstances.

The use of growth promoters is strictly prohibited across all of our livestock supply chains. There is no routine mutilation of farm animals used to supply products. There are instances of tail-docking (in lambs and pigs) and teeth-clipping (in pigs) where welfare is deemed to be at risk by not doing so.
To prevent undue stress to animals, we aim to keep animal transportation times to a minimum: eight hours is the maximum, although most journeys, in reality, are considerably shorter.

All livestock providing meat is stunned, before slaughter, to ensure that the animal is insensitive to pain.

All farmed seafood is stunned before processing. 

Against animal-testing
We do not support the use of animals to test the safety of products.

Antibiotic reduction strategy
Wetherspoon does not support the preventative mass medication of animals through the use of antibiotics (prophylactic) in its supply chain. Our view is that antibiotics should be used only where there has been a specific clinical diagnosis.

An antibiotic reduction strategy has been developed, using the Compassion in World Farming antibiotic stewardship programme as a blueprint.

Antibribery and anticorruption policy
Wetherspoon conducts all business in an honest and ethical manner and with a zero-tolerance approach to bribery and corruption. We are committed to acting professionally, fairly and with integrity in all of our business dealings and relationships.

The antibribery and anticorruption policy is for employees and contractors to ensure that we meet the requirements of the Bribery Act (2010) and applies to any person:

• or organisation with which the company works, including actual or potential suppliers, agents and professional advisers.
• who works for the company (whether on a fixed or temporary basis), including employees, directors, consultants, agency workers, volunteers, agents and contractors.

All forms of bribery and corruption are strictly prohibited. If individuals are unsure about whether a particular act constitutes bribery, they must speak to their line manager or business contact at the company.

It is not acceptable to:

• give or offer any payment, gift, hospitality or other benefit in the expectation that a business advantage will be received in return or to reward any business received.
• make or accept anything which people know, or suspect, is made with the expectation that it will provide a business advantage (whether for them or anyone else).
• give or offer any payment (sometimes called a facilitation payment) to a government official in any country to facilitate or speed up a routine or necessary procedure.
• threaten or retaliate against another person who has refused to offer or accept a bribe or who has raised concerns about possible bribery or corruption.

Gifts and hospitality from third parties
Wetherspoon operates a strict corporate hospitality policy. Employees are not permitted to accept gifts or corporate hospitality of any kind – and we also ask that third parties do not offer it.

If unsolicited gifts are received by the company, these are logged with the purchasing director and raffled in aid of the company’s nominated UK charity – Young Lives vs Cancer.

It is unacceptable for any company employees (or someone on their behalf) to:

• give, promise to give or offer a payment, a gift or hospitality with the expectation that they or the company will improperly be given a business advantage or as a reward for a business advantage already improperly given.
• give, promise to give or offer a payment, a gift or hospitality to a government official, agent or representative to facilitate or expedite a routine procedure.
• accept payment from a third party, where it is known or suspected that it is offered or given with the expectation that the third party will improperly obtain a business advantage.
•  accept a gift or hospitality from a third party, where it is known or suspected that it is offered or provided with an expectation that a business advantage will be improperly provided by the company in return.
• threaten or retaliate against another company employee who has refused to commit a bribery offence or who has raised concerns under this policy.
• engage in any activity which may lead to a breach of this policy. Any third party which breaches this policy may have its supply agreement terminated, with immediate effect.

Raising a concern
We encourage employees, suppliers and their employees to report and disclose genuine and serious wrongdoing, so that we can deal internally, at an early stage, with any improper activities and investigate accordingly.

Please notify the company’s whistleblowing e-mail address as soon as possible: whistleblowing@jdwetherspoon.co.uk

If you wish to report your concern in writing, please send any correspondence marked for the attention of the company secretary to:
Company Secretary, J D Wetherspoon
Wetherspoon House, Reeds Crescent, Watford
WD24 4QL

The company will not penalise, or tolerate any retaliation against, any employees or suppliers who speak up about their concerns.

Sourcing policies, practices and guidelines

See: Supplier charter 2023
Wetherspoon has a responsibility to conduct its business responsibly and ethically – this extends to the sourcing of food products. We recognise animal welfare as a business issue and strive to ensure the highest-possible animal welfare standards across the supply chain. We commit to looking continually into ways of improving animal welfare, over time, and of providing transparency to customers about where the food we serve comes from. 

We aim to ensure that food products are produced ethically, sustainably and in an environmentally friendly way, with regular risk-based supplier audits completed to check this.

Suppliers are expected to hold a globally recognised food safety standard, such as a British Retail Consortium (BRC) certification or an alternative global

GAP-accredited scheme – a globally recognised food safety standard, providing assurance that their processes and controls are stringent enough to ensure that the food which they supply is safe.

Our supply chain is extensive. Suppliers conform to those accredited assurance schemes relevant to their geographic location and products supplied. These assurance schemes comply with EU legislation as a minimum and include, but are not limited to, Red Tractor, Bord Bia, RSPCA Assured and Genesis GAP.

Our responsible-supplier principles set out our expectations of all suppliers, to ensure that all workers involved in our supply chains are treated honestly, ethically and responsibly. They extend to pay, working hours, working conditions, child labour, forced labour, freedom of association and employee representation and equality of treatment.

Product	Sourcing and sustainability policy	Current Position
Chicken	The policy statements below set out time-bound limitations of the expected animal welfare standards for the supply of chicken, based on the European Chicken Commitment. All dates detailed are to the end of the calendar year. Unless progress steps are defined, the standard is currently met. Suppliers/producers will comply with all EU animal welfare laws and regulations, regardless of the country of production. Antibiotics Current – Critically important antibiotics (currently used for human medicine and defined as the highest priority by the World Health Organization [WHO]) to be used as a last resort only and where animals’ health and welfare may otherwise be compromised. 2021 – No critically important antibiotics given the highest priority by WHO to be used. 2026 – Reduction in line with Wetherspoon’s antibiotic reduction strategy. Antibiotic reduction strategy No prophylactic use of antibiotics in the rearing of chickens used for supply. Suppliers/producers must have a published antibiotic reduction strategy, updated each year and provided to the company. The use of growth promoters is strictly prohibited across all of our livestock supply chains, including chicken production. No poultry derived from a cloned animal or subsequent generations is to be used. Confinement Current – 100% of chicken flocks to be raised cage-free. 2026 – 100% of chicken flocks to be raised cage-free and without the use of multitier systems Stocking density Current – Must not exceed 38kg/m2 and will average 33kg/m2. 2021 – Must not exceed 33kg/m2. 2023 – Must not exceed 30kg/m2. Breeds The breeds considered to have higher welfare outcomes are Hubbard JA757, 787, 957, 987, Rambler Ranger, Ranger Classic and Ranger Gold and others which meet the criteria of the RSPCA Broiler Breed Welfare Assessment Protocol. 2021 – 25% improvement to breeds with high welfare outcomes. 2026 – 100% switch to breeds with high welfare outcomes. Environmental standards – Light Current – Min. 20 lux. 2021 – Expected progress to be made. 2023 – Min. 50 lux, including natural light. Perch space 2021 – Expected progress to be made. 2026 – At least two metres of usable perch space and two pecking substrates per 1,000 birds. Air quality Requirements are laid down in annex 2.3 of the EU broiler directive and are regardless of stocking density. Concentration of ammonia (NH3) will not exceed 30ppm. Concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) will not exceed 3,000ppm. When external temperature exceeds 30˚C in the shade, internal temperature will be no more than 33˚C. When external temperature is below 10˚C, average internal relative humidity, measured inside the house over 48 hours, will not exceed 70%. Thinning Thinning will be discourged. Current – Number of thins to be determined. 2021 – Expected progress to be made. 2026 – Limited to one thin per flock. Beak-trimming Current – percentage levels to be determined. 2021 – 50% reduction on current levels; hot knife method to be prohibited. 2026 – 100% reduction on current levels. Live transport times Must not exceed eight hours. No live exports. Lairage conditions Birds must be unloaded and slaughtered, after being assessed, as soon as possible after slaughterhouse arrival. If birds are not killed straight away, they must be provided with: drinking water, sufficient for the number of birds. feed, if not slaughtered within 12 hours of arrival; after that, at regular intervals, sufficient for the number of birds. enough space to house all animals; if in containers, they must be stable, must not allow excreta to fall on the animals below and must be suitably ventilated. an environment which keeps them safe from potential injury and predators. shelter/shade from extreme weather.  protection from sudden noises. lighting suitable for inspections to be carried out. natural or mechanical ventilation to protect them from extreme temperatures, as well as from harmful levels of humidity and ammonia. Preslaughter stunning When suitable technology is commercially available, controlled atmospheric stunning using inert gas or multiphase systems, or effective electrical stunning without live inversion, will be adopted.	Chicken is sourced from the UK, Europe and Thailand. British chicken is Red Tractor Assured. All other chicken is assured under other schemes (eg the LR Poultry Standard) and is compliant with EU regulations. We are committed to the ‘five freedoms’ as defined by the Farm Animal Welfare Committee (2009).
Lamb	Lamb must be outdoor reared, free range and (where possible) pasture fed. No use of confinement systems for livestock. Free from genetic modification.	Lamb is sourced from New Zealand and the UK. New Zealand lamb is produced under the Alliance Group Farm Assurance Programme designed to ensure that suppliers consistently meet high food and animal welfare standards in their farming practices. British lamb comes from farms operating under the Red Tractor Farm Assurance scheme or the Farm Assured Welsh Livestock Scheme.
Beef	Farmers must provide adequate animal shelter from rain/ sun, particularly at vulnerable times, such as calving. The majority of the animals’ diet must comprise grazed grass and grass-based winter forages.	Beef is sourced from UK and Irish farms operating under the Red Tractor and Bord Bia quality-assurance schemes (respectively) which promote best farming practices.
Pork	Current stocking densities will not exceed 30 sows per hectare.	Pork products are sourced from within the EU, from producers which conform to their appropriate national standards. As a minimum, these national standards meet the minimum (welfare) standard set out in the European directive (2008/120) and, in some cases, exceed them.
Fish and shellfish	All fish is wild; no farmed fish is used.	Cod and haddock are sourced from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) fishing grounds in the North Atlantic, rated as either 2 or 3 by the Marine Conservation Society. The company has achieved MSC Chain of Custody certification. Scampi is sourced from fishing grounds around the UK and Ireland, the weighted average MCS score for these fishing grounds being 2.98. Tuna is dolphin friendly and caught using purse seines and is FAD (fish aggregating device) free.
Palm oil	Roundtable sustainable palm oil (RSPO) – certified oil, meeting the global production and supply chain requirements for sustainable palm oil. Annually, the company completes traceability tests with suppliers, back to first importer. No new products are listed without this certification. The company is working with suppliers to identify other areas which may use palm oil products or derivatives, such as cleaning or personal hygiene products.	For cooking purposes – roundtable sustainable palm oil (RSPO)-certified oil. All palm oil used as an ingredient in supplied products is RSPO certified. Cleaning products – data unknown.
Soya as an ingredient	All soya used as an ingredient or compound ingredient must be certified as sustainable according to a recognised certification scheme. We conduct periodic traceability audit tests with our suppliers on the origins of soya as an ingredient.	We have committed to ensuring, by the end of 2023, that all soya used as an ingredient or compound ingredient in the existing supply chain is certified sustainable according to a recognised certification scheme. In addition, since September 2021, no new product is listed which has soya as an ingredient, if the origins cannot be confirmed as sustainable. There are currently 16 products which have soya as an ingredient or compound ingredient. The percentage of soya used as an ingredient is low in the majority of products.
Soya as animal feed	As of the end of 2023, all soya used as animal feed in the supply chain must be certified sustainable according to a recognised certification scheme. No new products will be listed without this certification for animal feed.	The data-capturing process is under way and we currently understand, for 50% of our chicken products, that our suppliers have implemented sustainable soya policies and/or practices to ensure that soya is not coming from areas of existing or formed rainforests, primary forests, high-conservation-value lands, high-carbon-stock forest areas or illegally deforested areas in the Amazon Biome. We use UK beef which is produced using predominantly a forage-based diet with only a small amount of soya as animal feed, on which we look to capture origin data.
Eggs	All eggs, including those used as an included ingredient in supplied products, must be from hens reared in free-range systems and cage-free.	All eggs, including those used as an included ingredient in supplied products, are from hens reared in free-range systems and cage-free. Fresh whole eggs are sourced in the UK and are all RSPCA assured and display the British Lion quality mark.
Milk	All fresh milk must be sourced in the UK from cows reared under the Red Tractor Farm Assurance Dairy Scheme. This scheme sets standards for animal welfare and the use of antibiotics:  Untethered exercise must be provided daily.  The prophylactic use of antibiotics and growth promoters is not allowed.  The milk produced is routinely tested for residual antibiotics.	All fresh milk is sourced in the UK from cows reared under the Red Tractor Farm Assurance Dairy Scheme. Milk is currently sourced from about 100 farms audited directly by Red Tractor.
Rice	Policy in development.
Maize	Policy in development.
Wheat	Policy in development.
Coffee, sugar, cocoa and tea	Coffee: 100% Rainforest Alliance certified. Sugar (for hot drinks or as an ingredient): Fairtrade certified. Cocoa (for hot drinks or as an ingredient): UTZ, Rainforest Alliance or Fairtrade. Tea: 100% Rainforest Alliance certified. Tea bags: 100% biodegradable and plastic-free.	Coffee (Lavazza): 100% Rainforest Alliance certified. Lavazza decaffeinated coffee is not Rainforest Alliance certified. Sugar: White/brown sugar sticks (for hot drinks) – Fairtrade certified. The source of sugar as an ingredient of food products is not currently known. Cocoa (January 2021): 15% of products containing cocoa are certified by UTZ/Rainforest Alliance or Fairtrade; 55% uncertified; 30% not known. Tea (Tetley): 100% Rainforest Alliance. Tetley is one of the founding members of the Ethical Tea Partnership, committed to improving the conditions of farmers growing tea around the world. Tea bags are 100% biodegradable and plastic-free.
Exotic fruits	Bananas: UTZ/Rainforest Alliance certified Lemons and limes must be vegan, using a plant-based wax.	Bananas: UTZ/Rainforest Alliance certified and sourced from an international company with a high standard of sustainability core values and international social accountability standards. Lemons, limes and other citrus fruits: Class 1, sourced from a variety of countries (including Argentina, Brazil, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Morocco, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, Uruguay and USA). Lemons and limes: Vegan (plant-based wax).
Cotton	Policy in development.
Timber and wood fibre	Policy in development.
Leather	Policy in development.
Textiles	Policy in development.
Cleaning products	Policy in development.
Consumable products	Policy in development.
Packaging	Policy in development.