Balancing culinary excellence with ethical responsibility: A scientific perspective on animal welfare in gastronomy

Abstract

The culinary industry not only seeks gastronomic excellence but must also address society's mounting concern for animal welfare. This review explores scientific and technological advances shaping animal welfare across the contemporary food system, mapping five critical value-chain stages, animal breeding and rearing; transport and handling; slaughter practices; distribution and procurement; and culinary preparation, where ethical tensions and welfare risks converge. It synthesizes welfare frameworks from the “Five Freedoms” to sentience-based and competence models, highlighting empirical gaps, particularly for crustaceans and insects, that have prompted precautionary bans such as Switzerland's prohibition on boiling lobsters alive. It is catalog key innovations, cultured meat regulatory milestones on March 21 and July 2023, plant-based analogues from pea protein to seitan, and emerging insect-protein applications and assess their potential to decouple gastronomic quality from animal harm. By comparing EU and US regulatory frameworks and private certification schemes, it identify fragmented standards as a barrier to coherent supply-chain compliance. The paper concludes by outlining a roadmap to integrate animal welfare science into culinary curricula, foster multi-stakeholder partnerships, and leverage precision livestock and vertical-farming technologies to advance a sustainable, responsible, and compassionate gastronomy.