KT TRADING’S COMMITMENT TO IMPROVED ANIMAL WELFARE KT Trading (KTT), a global player in the leather industry, pursues benchmarked improvements in animal welfare standards to meet customer expectations. KTT manages its supply chain to ensure that leather is sourced in a careful and responsible manner. Animal welfare begins at the slaughterhouse, and KTT requires that raw material from suppliers meets, or exceeds, internationally ratified animal welfare standards, such as the OIE Guidelines (www.oie.int). Over 99% of KTT’s raw materials are bovine in origin, and materials from endangered species are never used. Leather traceability, back to individual slaughterhouses, is a key issue, and KTT is progressively improving leather-origin tracking in many of its key markets. Five significant traceability improvements are in place. • All of KTT’s EU suppliers provide a certificate of compliance with European Union regulation EC 853/2004 concerning rawhide deliveries. This regulation demands that all animals are accurately identified on arrival at slaughterhouses, are healthy, and have a satisfactory level of welfare. The certificate guarantees that all hides come from animals that are fit for human consumption; and it also provides KTT with full individual raw material traceability, from slaughterhouse to delivery. • KTT is working with Europe’s largest food processing company, which has an animal welfare certification programme in place, and whose standards are Gold- rated under the industry’s independently operated Leather Working Group’s scheme (www.leatherworkinggroup.com). • 80% of KTT’s materials are sourced from tanneries with a Gold standard-rating under the Leather Working Group, with a target of 95% from Gold-rated sources by 2020. Tanneries with this ratification have the highest level of traceability, beginning with the slaughterhouses of origin. • KTT sources raw material from two of the biggest meat processing companies in the USA, both of which operate detailed in-house animal welfare programmes. These include welfare auditing at farms, during animal transport, and at the slaughterhouses. One of the suppliers also undertakes regular third-party remote video auditing of animal welfare at North American beef production facilities. As with the Leather Working Group standards, these suppliers’ audits allow KTT to trace hides back to the individual slaughterhouses. • KTT ensures that all hides entering its supply chain carry a unique mark that provides traceability throughout the entire production process. Despite these established commitments to animal welfare standards and raw materials traceability, KTT recognises that improvements must be ongoing. This is why KTT remains in dialogue with suppliers to encourage them to maintain, or improve, animal welfare standards and practices. 42
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