Proactive Animal Well-being Initiatives - Don Butler, Director, Government Affairs, Murphy-Brown LLC, from the 2010 Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholder's Summit: Truth, Lies and Videotape: Is Activism Jeopardizing Our Food Security?, April 28 - 29, 2010, Washington, DC, USA. More presentations at http://www.trufflemedia.com/home/conference/2010-animal-ag-alliance-stakeholders-summit

1. Social Responsibility in the
US Pork Industry
Don Butler, Past President
National Pork Producers Council
Presentation to Animal Agriculture Alliance
Summit
April, 2010

2. US Pork Producers Embrace
Social Responsibility in a
Verifiable Way

3. Commitment to Ethical Principles
Ethical Principles for U.S. Pork Producers
U.S. pork producers recognize our obligation to build and
maintain the trust of customers and the public in our products
and our practices. To promote confidence in what we do and
how we do it, we affirm the following ethical principles.
We affirm our obligation to produce safe food.
We affirm our obligation to protect and promote animal wellbeing.
We affirm our obligation to safeguard natural resources in all
of our practices.
We affirm our obligation to ensure our practices protect public
health.
We affirm our obligation to provide a work environment that is
safe and consistent with our other ethical standards.
We affirm our obligation to contribute to a better quality of life
in our communities.

4. History and Evolution
1989 – Pork Quality Assurance (PQA)
2003 – Swine Welfare Assurance Program (SWAP)
2005 - Coalition Discovery Team
2007 – PQA Plus released
2010 – full PQA Plus implementation

6. Program Objectives
Continuous improvement in pork production
practices
Demonstrate that pork producers are accountable
for the way we produce pork
Provide a workable/affordable/credible tool for the
pork chain

7. Terms
Certification vs. Site Status
– Certification (People)
– Status of Sites (Premises ID)
Trainer vs. Advisor
– Trainer (Limited in each state)
– Advisor (Vets, Extension, Ag Educators)
Assessment vs. 3rd Party Verification
– Assessment (Consultative, Benchmarking)
– 3rd Party Verification (Objective observation/evaluation)

8. Infrastructure
Trainers = 63
Advisors = 1,162
– Be a veterinarian, Extension Specialist or Ag Educator 1.
– Have a D.V.M. or B.S. or equivalent experience in
Animal Science or associated field3.
– Have two years of recent, documentable swine production
experience3.
– Former PQA Educators or Certified SWAP Educators
are not grandfathered into PQA Plus.

9. Elements for Continuous Improvement

10. PQA Plus – Producer Education
Two main elements
– Food Safety
– Animal Well Being
Producer Certification
– 45,384 PQA Plus individuals
– Only 2 states with no certified individuals (RI & VT)

11. Site Assessment
Well-Being Assessment
– Animal observation
– Facilities
– Recordkeeping
Site Status = 9,657
– Represents over 54%
of the U.S.A. swine inventory

12. Certification Content
■
GPP #1 Establish and implement an efficient and effective herd health
management plan
■
GPP#2 Use a veterinarian/client/patient relationship (VCPR) as the
basis for medication decision-making
■
GPP#3 Use antibiotics responsibly
■
GPP#4 Identify and track and maintain medication and treatment
records for all treated animals
■
GPP #5 Adhere to medication withdrawal times
■
GPP#6 Properly store, label and account for all drug products and
medicated feeds

13. Certification Content – continued
■
GPP#7 Use proper administration techniques, needle-use
procedures, observance of withdrawal times, and methods to avoid
marketing adulterated products for human food
■
GPP#8 Follow appropriate on-farm feed processing and commercial
feed processor procedures
■
GPP#9 Develop, implement, and document an animal caretaker
training program
■
GPP#10 Provide proper swine care to improve swine well-being

14. On-Farm Assessment – Site Status
Recordkeeping
– VCPR
– Medication and treatment records
– Training programs
Emergency Support
– Written emergency action plan
– Operational emergency backup
Site Assessment
Daily Observations
Body Condition Scoring
Body Space
Euthanasia
– Written action plan
– Timely euthanasia
Facilities
Ventilation
– Temperature
– Air quality
Willful Acts of Abuse

15. Third-Party Verification: Objectives
Measure the effectiveness of the PQA Plus program, not to find farms that are not in
compliance
– Use aggregate assessment data and verification data to identify areas for additional
education and training in pork production
Provide credibility to packers and customers
Provide an alternative to every farm audited every year
– Statistically valid random sample
Enable Pork Checkoff to pay for third-party verification element
Create one set of industry-developed criteria to avoid confusion and extra cost
Use aggregate assessment data and
verification data to identify areas for additional
education and training in pork production

16. How will verification process work?
All sites with Site Status will be in a pool from which sites will be
selected
Producer will be given official notice and information on how to
schedule an appointment with third-party verifier
Completed by third-party, PAACO-certified verifier during agreed
upon date/time
Verifier submit report to third-party database, and send producer
information
Producers work with their advisors to address any issues identified
during the verification
process

17. How will verification process work? (cont.)
Database reports verification data in aggregate form to the National
Pork Board
National Pork Board uses aggregate verification data to identify
areas for additional education and training to promote continuous
improvement of the pork industry

18. Verification Timeline - 2010
April – complete Verifier training materials
– post request for proposals for verifiers
May – identify Verifiers
July – verifiers complete PAACO certification
September – begin verification process

19. Continuous Improvement: Areas of Focus
Version 1.2
–
–
–
–
Retrain PQA Plus Trainers
Enhanced GPP #3 content (responsible antibiotic use)
Enhanced GPP #9 content (caretaker training)
Enhanced GPP #10 content (animal handling)
Recordkeeping: Additional emphasis on
– Medication and treatment records
– Emergency action plans
– Written euthanasia plan
Animals & facilities: Additional emphasis on
– Timely euthanasia
– Facilities

20. Industry Commitment
■
The National Pork Board strongly recommends that
all pork producers participate in the pork industry’s
We Care Initiative by a target date of 12/31/10.
Through their participation, producers would abide
by the Statement of Ethical Principles, become
Pork Quality Assurance Plus (PQA Plus) certified
by 6/30/10 and achieve PQA Plus site status by
12/31/10.
– Adopted June 1, 2009

21. Thank You
Questions?