Proviande said 75% of Swiss farm animals get outdoor access — by headcount it was 15%

In February 2026 Proviande, the Swiss meat industry's umbrella organisation, ran a paid native post on the news portal Watson about how Switzerland compares with the EU on animal welfare. Its headline claim: 'Over three quarters of all farm animals benefit from the federal RAUS program' — the scheme granting livestock regular outdoor exercise. The figure was real, in its way: it was calculated in livestock units (GVE), where one unit equals one cow or roughly 250 chickens.

The unit choice did the persuading. Broiler chickens make up the vast majority of individual farm animals but barely weigh in livestock units; count actual animals instead, and the share with regular outdoor access falls to roughly 15%. Four animal welfare organisations — Animal Rights Switzerland, Sentience, the Foundation for Animals in Law, and Tier im Fokus — filed a joint complaint on 12 March 2026.

The Swiss Fair Trading Commission upheld the complaint (decision Nr. 145/26 of 13 May 2026, announced 9 June 2026): consumers read such a figure as describing the animals' actual living conditions, not a statistical construct that paints a distortedly positive picture. It recommended Proviande refrain from the statement in future. For Proviande it was the fourth SLK reprimand — after 2018, 2022 and 2025.