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The National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC) was established in 2005 to review options for the development of Codes of Practice for the care and handling of farm animals. The government suspended funding for the Codes in 2002 and funded a consultation process that brought together the agriculture industry, welfare groups, the government, and others, ultimately resulting in the formation of NFACC.
The CFHS was a founding member and continues to be active within NFACC to promote an improved system of oversight that will better ensure the welfare and humane treatment of farm animals across Canada.
Despite some progress in working towards this goal, the CFHS is concerned that NFACC is dominated by producer organizations, with the CFHS as the only animal welfare representative. The CFHS is also concerned about the reluctance of producer groups to adopt a framework for verification programs that would ensure compliance with the Codes.
CFHS is actively working within NFACC to encourage a process of development for the Codes that includes some key welfare issues. Although the CFHS acknowledges some improvements in the Code process being proposed by NFACC, we fear that it is very similar to the old Codes and that overall it would mean a status quo that would allow Canada to fall farther and farther behind other countries. The CFHS is particularly concerned with the following major issues:
1.The voluntary nature of the Codes
In the past the Codes have been voluntary and not well used by industry, and the CFHS does not believe this is sufficient or effective. Minimum standards should be enforced.
2. Inclusion of “best practices” in addition to “minimum standards”
When the Codes were originally developed, starting in the 1980’s, one of the goals was to encourage high standards for the care and handling of farm animals in Canada. However, because of the many diverse groups and interests involved in the development of the Codes, some compromises were required on both sides. To encourage these higher standards, the CFHS would like to see new Codes include recommended best practices, in addition to required minimum standards.
3. Regular and third party audits and industry verification
CFHS believes that regular audits are necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the Codes. Without objective third party audits, standards set by the Codes will not be adequately upheld across Canada. A third party system would ensure that standards are consistent across the country. Ideally, NFACC would provide a framework from which each commodity group would rise to the challenge of improving animal care by developing a verification process, as some commodity groups have already done. The Canadian Pork Council released its “Animal Care Assessment Tool” in 2005. The CFHS reviewed the document and supports the implementation of it – although we do have concerns about some practices used in the husbandry of pigs.
4. Incorporating scientific research
One of the biggest problems with the current Codes was that they were not necessarily based on scientific research. CFHS hopes new Codes will be based on the most up-to-date scientific research and will be revised as necessary according to the newest research and technology.
The development of the Codes is a lengthy process but an important one. NFACC hopes to avoid a situation similar to that in the United States where varying standards were developed by corporations such as Burger King and McDonalds. In this case different auditors from each company audit producers who supply more than one chain, resulting in a costly and ineffective process. To date however, NFACC has not supported the development of a single, national audit system, and as a result, the same system could arise in Canada.
