1. Developments in Farm Animal Welfare
in the U.S.
Cathy Liss, President, Animal Welfare Institute
Market-Driven Animal Welfare in the EU and the U.S.
March 22, 2012

2. About the Animal Welfare Institute
• Non-profit US charity founded in 1951
• Mission to alleviate suffering inflicted on animals by
humans
• Seeks humane husbandry, handling, transport and
slaughter for all animals raised for food.
• Engages with policymakers, scientists, industry and
the public
• Has focused on farm animal welfare dating back to
its work on humane slaughter in the early 1950s

3. AWI’s high welfare
farm animal standards
• In 1989, AWI developed Humane Husbandry
Standards for Pigs and the first “USDA-Approved”
label placed on pork from animals raised to AWI’s
standards.
• Animal Welfare Approved is launched in 2006. It is a
high welfare, pasture or range-based program. AWA
requires that its farmers have individual ownership
and control of their animals.

4. Animal Welfare Approved
Carries out the following activities:
• Auditing and compliance
• Market support
• Supply chain work
• Grants and grant support.
Has standards for 14 types of livestock, plus
slaughter standards
Works with 1500 farms in 45 states and Canada

5. Consumer Awareness
Welfare and protection of farm animals is important to
consumers and a strong consideration in buying food.
Food industry trend watcher, the Hartman Group, cites
grass-fed meat, healthy fats, real butter, cage-free eggs,
heirloom marbled pork, and the family dinner as
growing trends in 2012.

6. Consumer Awareness
• Concern about meat’s origins is growing….some shoppers are
willing to pay two or three times as much to guarantee that the
animals they eat had ample living space and sufficient time
outdoors, were raised on organic or foraged food (or both),
and were not fed antibiotics or growth hormones. ---Carolyn
Dimitri, professor of food studies at New York University
• According to a 2011 Kansas State University study consumers
will likely pay up to 20% more for meat with a mandatory label
showing that animals were raised without the use of cages and
crates. Women and younger consumers indicated even higher
demand for this labeling.

7. Consumer Awareness
Most consumers uninformed:
•Believe only 37% of eggs
produced in the U.S. come
from hens in cages (in fact
>90% of eggs produced in cage
systems)
•About 30% believe the pork
they buy comes from pasture
or organic farming (actual
amount is <5%)

8. Farm Animal Welfare in the US
Mainly market driven welfare criteria
Little regulation underpinning farmed animal
management
Single issue state legislation may have a minimal
effect on overall animal welfare
--welfare is multi-factorial
--states that have enacted legislation tend to
have smaller numbers of producers
Retailers and companies are setting their own
agenda

9. State Laws
State action includes:
• Prohibition of gestation crates for
pigs
• Prohibition of cattle tail docking
• Ban on foie gras
• Regulation on hen housing
• Prohibition on veal crates
Small number of states in total

10. Federal Laws
No federal regulation of:
•Humane slaughter for poultry
•Transport times for poultry
•Transport conditions (except
horses)
•On-farm husbandry practices

11. Regulatory Developments
• National Organic Standards
Board is drafting animal
welfare regulations
• Some states have set/are in the
process of setting on-farm
husbandry regulations
(standards are very low,
however)

12. Third Party Initiatives
There are animal welfare
certification programs with
birth to slaughter
requirements in the U.S.
•Cover multiple species
•About 40 million
animals/year currently
raised under these
programs

13. Third Party Initiatives
Other animal welfare-related
food labels exist
•Not necessarily making a
“humane” claim – but some
standards on welfare
•About 300 million animals/year
raised under these programs
•Some of the animal welfare
requirements are equivalent to
standard industry practice

14. Benefits of Third Party Initiatives
• Reduce consumer confusion about
animal rearing practices
• Help consumers make more
informed choices
• Reward high-welfare farmers
• Illustrate differences in welfare
among farms and marketing
programs

15. Negatives of Third Party Initiatives
• Voluntary
• Inconsistent
• Can solely be used as marketing tools rather than
improvement of welfare
• Can be expensive for the farmer to participate
• Claims can be meaningless
• Not necessarily any independent oversight

16. Production Industry Initiatives
• United Egg Producers
modified guidelines to
prohibit feed withdrawal for
molting as of 2006
• American Veal Association
resolution recommending
transition from veal crates to
group housing by 2017

17. Individual Producer Initiatives
• Mary’s Chicken and Bell & Evans chicken
switched to controlled atmosphere stunning
• Smithfield Foods says it will phase-out
gestation crates by 2017
• Hormel Foods says it will phase-out gestation
crates by 2017 (for company-owned facilities)
• Cargill reported it is 50% gestation crate free
in 2012

18. Individual Retailer Initiatives
• Numerous chain restaurants and several chain
grocery stores have adopted animal welfare
policies that set minimum standards for:
– eggs from cage free hens
– pork from group-housed sows
– poultry meat from birds killed with controlled atmosphere
stunning/killing
• McDonald’s is requiring suppliers to produce
plans to phase out gestation crates

19. Food Service Industry Initiatives
Compass Group
•Shell eggs now cage free
•Pork from gestation crate systems phased
out by 2017
Bon Appétit
•Shell and liquid eggs to be cage free
•Pork to be from group-housing only (no
gestation crates)
•No foie gras and no veal from crates

20. Labeling Oversight
Animal raising claims made by
affidavit, and challenged by:
•Lawsuits
•Better Business Bureau
advertising complaints
•Administrative agency
petitions

21. What’s Needed
• Public education about conventional and higher-
welfare production and the meaning of common
marketing claims
• Mandatory labeling of meat and dairy products
• Meaningful regulatory definitions of common
marketing claims
• Independent welfare assessment of all raising
protocols

22. A big thank you to the
Delegation of the European Union
and the European Institute