Farm animal welfare and corporate social responsibility: making slaughter visible?

Until relatively recently, the slaughter of animals for human consumption was almost invisible: many of us consumed meat but chose to remain ignorant of its origins. From the late 20th century onwards a series of crises raised concerns about farm animal welfare (FAW) within industrial food production systems, but the slaughter of animals was rarely discussed. A series of complex global processes have since pushed the underlying issues back into public consciousness and political debate, with animal slaughter now being discussed more openly than at any time over the last two centuries. However, while corporate retailers and large supermarkets are making FAW a central feature of corporate social responsibility strategies, slaughter still remains a largely invisible issue.