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In an ideal world, cows, pigs and sheep would spend their days roaming green pastures and munching on fresh grass. The unfortunate reality is that many farm animals are confined in huge barns or in crowded paddocks. Intensive farming methods, also known as “factory farming”, where some animals rarely see the light of day, have surpassed the family farm as the predominant way of raising livestock.
The Royal SPCA in Britain offers an alternative for consumers who want to buy meat from animals that were raised in a humane manner. Their Freedom Food® program was launched in 1995 to licence and market farm animal products from animals that were raised, transported and slaughtered according to established humane standards.
Why not introduce such a program here in Canada? Would Canadians support such products? A survey conducted in British Columbia grocery stores by the BC SPCA found that 85% of respondents wanted assurances that food animals are treated humanely. Thirty-four percent felt that this is currently not the case.
For the past few years the BC SPCA has been laying the groundwork for the introduction of a humane farming certification and labelling program in Canada. They have generated substantial interest among farmers, producers, and grocery chains, and have been to the U.K. to learn about the RSPCA’s Freedom Food® program. They are planning to register with the B.C. government’s new Food Choice and Quality Act, which will provide third party auditing and certification for programs such as organic farming and humane labelling. The Ontario SPCA and the Winnipeg Humane Society are also interested in developing a humane labelling program.
At the national level, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, a federal agriculture agency, was initially reluctant to recognize BC SPCA’s humane labelling program. However, BC SPCA’s Stephen Huddart and CFHS’ Executive Director, Bob Van Tongerloo, recently convinced CFIA to allow the program to move forward as a working model, while a national review process is conducted. The BC SPCA and CFHS will assist CFIA in designing the review process, which will include consultation with farmers, producers, transporters, grocery chains, animal welfare groups and industry experts.
While BC SPCA has been working on a Canadian humane labelling program, they also provided assistance to the American Humane Association (AHA) in developing a U.S. program. The AHA launched their Free Farmed program in September 2000. Ironically, the first pork producer certified under this program is du Breton farms in Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Quebec. Du Breton is the largest producer of all-natural, antibiotic-free pork in North America, distributing extensively in the U.S. The du Breton pigs, raised by small family farmers in Quebec and the Maritimes, live in spacious, carefully controlled environments, on a thick layer of bedding that allows them to engage in foraging behaviour.
The launch of a national humane labelling program for farm animal products in Canada could be just a year or two away. This would be a very exciting development that could influence the future direction of animal farming, and of course, the welfare of farm animals.
