Waitrose has won Best Retailer at the 2019 Compassion in World Farming Awards for the third year running.
The award ceremony recognises and rewards producers, manufacturers and retailers across the world for working in a 'sustainable and responsible' way.
Waitrose beat 27 others from across Europe, including 10 from the UK and others from France, Italy, Germany and Scandinavia, in winning the Best Retailer award.
It is given to a supermarket which showcases exceptional farm animal welfare policies.
Duncan Sinclair, Agriculture Manager at Waitrose, said: “It takes a lot of passion, dedication and hard work to maintain the high standards we have become famous for over the past 30 years.
“We owe a considerable amount to the longstanding relationships we have with our farmers and our processors for building that reputation.
“Without their loyalty and commitment, our pursuit and retention of such pioneering animal welfare standards would not be possible and we share these accolades with them.”
Compassion in World Farming said Waitrose is a 'true leader' in animal welfare in Europe.
The recipients of these awards are determined through the charity's Supermarket Survey, which scores and rates supermarkets on their policies, performance and overall approach to farm animal welfare.
Retailers are benchmarked anonymously against their industry peers using the highest and lowest percentage scores for each area of performance to maintain confidentiality.
