On the 1st of July 2025, Switzerland will introduce a new requirement for food labels to disclose whether the fabrication of products of animal origin involved specific painful practices, following a series of ordinances approved by the Swiss federal government. These regulations will apply to meat, eggs, milk, foie gras, and other animal-derived foods, aiming to provide consumers with clearer information about the treatment of animals during production.
The government stated that labels must now indicate if any procedures — such as castration or dehorning of cows, or castration, tail docking, or teeth clipping for pigs — were performed without anaesthesia or stunning. The same rule will apply to the cutting of frogs’ legs without anaesthetic. Liver and meat from force-fed geese and ducks, such as foie gras, must also be labelled accordingly. Although force-feeding has been banned in Switzerland for more than four decades, the practice remains legal in other countries.
The labelling obligation will cover all establishments offering such products, including restaurants, small businesses, and retail outlets. These businesses will be responsible for determining whether their goods require the declaration, under self-monitoring rules. According to the government, this move is about “increasing transparency for consumers, enabling them to make informed purchases”.
Additionally, from the 1st of July, the import of fur and fur products obtained through certain cruel practices will be banned under the newly amended ordinances. Fur shops, fashion retailers, and online sellers will be required to prove that their fur items meet Swiss animal welfare standards, as authorities found faulty labelling in around 60% of outlets inspected in 2023.
In reality, the production of all animal products involves cruel practices that make nonhuman animals suffer, so these ordinances may sound like using the language of abolition, but they are reforms that just regulate how nonhuman animals can be exploited and which type of suffering is acceptable by the government and the public — and do it very superficially as they are not banning the worse practices, but just making sure they are mentioned on the labels. Only the abolition of all forms of animal farming and exploitation can eliminate the suffering and harm humans cause to other sentient beings.
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