Almarai, the largest dairy in the Middle East, is the first in the world to achieve NSF’s Global Animal Wellness Standards (GAWS) for animal welfare management Systems and dairy production.

GAWS establishes practices for management systems to help ensure animal welfare, health, feed, housing, and husbandry is the first of their kind in the industry.

NSF is a leading global public health and safety organisation. Launched in 2019, the innovative NSF GAWS is the first system in the food agriculture industry that establishes a universal approach to animal health and wellness.

For the first time, GAWS offers industry producers and buyers an outcome-based solution that addresses the entire lifecycle of all key species. It establishes best practices for how animals are kept, raised, and, most importantly, addresses animal management systems.

NSF Global Animal Wellness Standards enable the food industry to shift away from traditional prescriptive approaches to animal welfare schemes, to one focused on systems management.

“Animal welfare impacts the agricultural and food production industry globally. We are pleased that Almarai achieved GAWS certification to help ensure consistent animal wellness is instituted at every stage of their dairy and live poultry production,” said Dr Elaine Vanier, technical scheme lead for Animal Wellness, NSF International.

“Almarai is one the most trusted food companies in the region and is known for its product quality. We place great importance on animal welfare. Not only because it’s the right thing to do, but also to help ensure consistent high quality and safer products,” said Kevin Wonnacott, divisional QHSE manager at Almarai.