Animal welfare directly contributes to food safety and quality. Raising animals in the condition that promotes their health and welfare offers a number of benefits to consumer health. Over the past few years, antimicrobial resistance has become a global concern as almost one million people die from antibiotic resistance every year. If this problem is not tackled urgently, it is estimated that the number of deaths could increase more than tenfold or equal to economic damages of over 100 trillion US dollars. It is even predicted that our planet could enter a “Post-Antibiotic Era” in which humans, once again, will die from bacterial infections¹

The Company fully recognizes that good animal welfare entails both animals’ mental and physical well-beings and is a critical factor that contributes to food safety. We are committed to continuous improvement of our operation to ensure that it is animal-friendly following the Five Freedoms Principles. We also apply Farm Biosecurity practices to our farm management. We have established the Animal Welfare Committee to drive our “Policy and Long-Term Targets on Animal Welfare” and the Antimicrobial Resistance Committee to promote “Global Vision for Antimicrobial Use Stewardship in Food Animals.” These approaches have been applied throughout the entire operations and are traceable.