Real-time facial recognition tech development for cows and pigs: ‘Animal emotions directly impact meat quality’ Detecting facial expressions and emotions of farm animals has the potential to improve animal welfare, according to Wageningen University & Research Associate Professor Suresh Neethirajan. European consumers care about animal welfare. In a 2016 Eurobarometer survey, 94% said protecting the welfare of farm animals is important, and 89% said there should be EU legislation that requires people to care for animals used for commercial purposes. To ensure animal welfare standards on-farm, however, workers typically rely on hands-on observations and measurements. This increases the frequency of animal-human interaction and can lend itself to subjective welfare assessments.