Food quality, which is increasingly becoming the focus of consumer interest, includes not only product quality but also so-called process quality.

When it comes to food from animal-friendly husbandry, it is essential to ensure appropriate husbandry conditions. This requires an accurate, reliable and practical system for assessing animal welfare at the operational level. In Austria, the assessment system of the animal welfare index TGI 35 L is used extensively. The Institute for Agricultural, Environmental and Energy Technology, in collaboration with the HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein, investigated the following questions in a research project:

• Survey accuracy: How reliably does the system work? Do repeated, independent surveys produce the same result?
• Validity: Do the assessment parameters used allow a clear statement to be made about the animal welfare of a husbandry system and the well-being of the animals living there?
• Which parameters can be used to assess the intensity of care for cattle?

To determine the accuracy of the survey - expressed by the measures "repeatability" and "collection error" 3 inspectors from Austrian state-approved bodies for the control of organic farming determined the TGI on 70 organic farms keeping cattle at the same time, but independently of each other. The validity was examined using a comparison of parameters from behavioral observations and veterinary examinations based on the general clinical and orthopedic examination on 11 cattle holding farms with the results of the TGI survey. The observed behaviors can be assigned to the functional groups of resting, feeding, comfort, social and elimination behavior. Based on detailed literature studies and questionnaire surveys, further parameters were developed to assess the intensity of care for cattle and these were tested on farms for practicality and acceptance.

The extensive results can be summarized as follows:

• The TGI 35 L delivers accurate, easily repeatable results. The training and experience of those surveyed and a regular exchange of experiences play an important role.
• The present studies show clear connections between the TGI assessment result and the behavior and health of the animals. This result indicates good reliability (validity) of the TGI 35 L.
• The assessment criteria that have been tested in practice in the area of ​​“care intensity” can contribute to improving the quality of assessment of this complex area of ​​influence.