Every day, people stop and stare at egg displays at the supermarket. They open and close the egg cartons, look at pictures on the carton of hens dancing in the sunshine, and mull over words, like “natural” or “organic,” in an effort to determine if the eggs they are holding were laid by happy hens.
For people who care how hens are raised, the quickest and easiest solution to this egg dilemma is to look for egg cartons with the Certified Humane Raised and Handled® label. The Certified Humane® label assures consumers that farmers are adhering to a precise set of Animal Care Standards. These standards are written and continually updated by world-renowned veterinarians and animal welfare scientists. And, in the interest of full transparency, our Standards
are displayed on our website for everyone see.
In addition to lighting, air, and food requirements, these standards also require cage-free living, enrichments for the hens, like perches and proper space where they can do what hens do, like flapping their wings or dustbathing their feathers.
The Certified Humane® label also guarantees that third-party inspectors – veterinarians and animal welfare scientists with master’s degrees or Ph.D.’s in their field of farm animal care – routinely inspect farms to ensure these standards are always being met and followed.
Simply put, the Certified Humane® label lets consumers know that Humane Farm Animal Care is on the job setting the standards and verifying the well-being of the laying hens in the program.
This knowledge will make you a rock star on the egg aisle. As you hone in on the Certified Humane® label and grab your eggs and go, people will see your certainty about your purchase and will stop to look at what eggs you just bought.
If you feel compelled to educate others about the Certified Humane® label, we want you to be super savvy about the egg industry’s marketing lingo. After all, your friends may try to convince you their “natural” eggs belong to hens that are humanely-raised too. (They are not).
So, here’s a primer on the terms most commonly seen on egg cartons and what those terms mean (or don’t mean) for the hens on the farm.
ORGANIC
The “Organic” label, regulated by the USDA, addresses environmental issues, and not the well-being of laying hens. The USDA defines “Organic” as a labeling term “that indicates that the food or other agricultural product has been produced through approved methods that integrate cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering may not be used.”
While a USDA blog refers to organic eggs as coming from hens who have “liberal access to the outdoors,” it does not provide any specific requirements of the space and leaves it up the farmer and certifying agent to decide upon.
NON-GMO
Non-GMO means a hen is fed a diet that is free from genetically-modified organisms. That is good, but that’s all it means when alone on an egg carton. “Non-GMO” doesn’t outline any humane standards of care for laying hens.
VEGETARIAN-FED
Some people think the words “Vegetarian-Fed” means hens are vegetarians. They are not. On pasture, hens eat worms, grubs, and bugs. But vegetarian-fed does mean your hens aren’t being fed animal by-products, like ground chicken. This is a good thing, which is covered in our Animal Care Standards too. But again, these words alone do not offer any humane standards of care for laying hens.
CAGE-FREE
This label is regulated by the USDA, and means, “Hens can move freely within the building/hen house and have unlimited access to food and fresh water during their production cycle.” Under this term, however, the USDA offers no space requirements for the laying hens. The Certified Humane® program requires “1.5 square feet per hen, litter for dust bathing, perches for the birds, and ammonia levels at a maximum of 10ppm, which means the scent is imperceptible,” just to cite a few of our humane standards for hens living cage-free in barns.
FREE-RANGE
The “Free-Range” label is regulated by the USDA and acknowledges “continuous access to the outdoors during their production cycle, which may or may not be fenced and/or covered with netting-like material.” It sounds great, but like the word “Organic,” Free-Range doesn’t stipulate what outdoor access really means, or how much space is required for the hens, which means anyone can put “Free-Range” on their label, even if the hens are outside for five minutes. Certified Humane® defines Free-Range as having at least 6 hours of outdoor access and a minimum of two square feet of outdoor space per bird.
PASTURE-RAISED
The term “Pasture-Raised” is not regulated by the USDA and is a marketing term used solely to confuse consumers. Wow, right? This marketing term dupes many consumers into believing that hens are on pasture-all day. Because it’s not a regulated term, anyone can slap “pasture-raised” across their egg carton. Certified Humane® does have a definition for “Pasture-Raised, which requires 6-hours of outdoor space and 2-square-feet per bird. Currently, eight farms are Certified Humane® “Pasture-Raised.”
NATURAL
Under the USDA, “Meat, poultry, and egg products labeled as “natural” must be minimally-processed and contain no artificial ingredients.” In other words, the “natural” label is about how the food is processed and does not include any definitions for how the hens are care for on the farm.
NO ADDED HORMONES
It might surprise you to learn that Federal regulations have banned the use of growth in hormones in poultry since the 1950s.
So, labels that say, “no antibiotics” or “no hormones” on egg cartons are just trying to make you think that other farmers may be using them. It’s a sneaky term that again has nothing to do with the humane treatment of laying hens.
HUMANE
The word “Humane” is not regulated by the USDA, which is why Humane Farm Animal Care launched in 2003 and gathered the world’s top veterinarians and animal welfare scientists to write humane standards of care for farm animals. Just like any other animal, cows, chickens, pigs, sheep, goats, turkeys and other farm animals deserve to have their emotional, mental and physical needs met. We believe they should be raised and housed in a way that allows them to express natural behaviors throughout their lives. Backed by science and confirmed by inspectors, the Certified Humane Raised and Handled® label is the label egg shoppers should look for it they want to buy their eggs from farmers interested in meeting a higher standard of welfare for their hens. We hope shopping on the egg aisle just got easier for you. Check out our Where to Buy page or download our Certified Humane® app to find stores near you with Certified Humane® eggs.
Posted: April 27, 2018 by Certified Humane®
Huevos Santa Marta
Launched in the 1990s, this family business started poultry farming when egg distribution to supermarkets was inadequate. “The suppliers lacked distribution and eggs weren’t always available,” says Jose Luis Moure Barros, General Manager.
So Agrícola Santa Marta de Liray S.A. initiated a start-up egg farm with special emphasis on delivering to large supermarkets. Working with the veterinary community, the farm’s staff learned how to raise and care for laying hens through on-going trainings that are part of the company’s overall policies on animal welfare.
Today, more than 220 employees care for 700,000 laying hens in state-of-the-art facilities. In 2018, the farm introduced higher animal welfare standards by launching the Certified Humane® program with 11,000 of its hens.
“After an international certification analysis and because of Humane Farm Animal Care’s mission towards farm animal welfare all over the world, we believe that Certified Humane® brings together everything we need, in terms of animal welfare and consumer credibility,” says Jose Luis Moure Oportot, Founder and CEO.
“The development of the cage-free egg market and the company’s commitment to animal welfare made it an easy decision to join the Certified Humane® program,” says Jose Luis Moure Barros, General Manager. “It makes us happy to see the birds showing their natural behaviors, like running and dust bathing.”
Barros says Huevos Santa Marta is a company committed not just to the hens, but to the environment. The farm’s on-site composting plant produces high-quality compost from the laying hens manure, which is applied as fertilizer on agricultural land. “Because it’s created by means of an automated aerobic composting system, the process doesn’t produce methane (CH4) and greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming,” says Barros.
Huevos Santa Marta’s cage-free eggs are available in Cencosud, within Jumbo stores – one of the largest supermarket chains in Chile.
To learn more, visit their website at: www.asml.cl
Posted: February 28, 2018 by Certified Humane®
PETA’s latest…
PETA has launched another attack campaign against Humane Farm Animal Care’s Certified Humane® program. We wish they would stop picking on farmers who are trying to do the right thing for farm animals, but we know this is part of their fundraising efforts every year.
In September 2017, PETA went to a farm in Pennsylvania that offered public tours and took selective videos of this farm. Per our records, this farm had an unannounced inspection one month prior, in August 2017. The inspection was conducted by one of our third-party farm animal welfare experts: veterinarians and scientists with expertise in their species of farm animals. According to the inspection report, the farm met all the requirements of the Certified Humane® program.
This farm sells their eggs to Nellie’s Free-Range Eggs, the first egg producer to become Certified Humane®, so their commitment to animal welfare is long-established.
The comments made by PETA-supporting veterinarians, Dr. Holly Cheever, Dr. Lester Castro Freedlander and Dr. Greg Burkett, were based on watching the video, which can be misleading, and not from actual engagement with the hens on the farm.
Here are PETA’s claims and our replies…
Reply: The Humane Farm Animal Care Scientific Committee comprised of 40 international animal scientists and veterinarians who wrote our standards, concluded that 1.2 sq. ft. of space per bird in a cage-free barn of this type is the minimum space needed for the hens to exhibit natural behaviors. In addition, the outdoor space for free-range laying hens is 2 sq. ft/bird. This farm meets both those standards.
Reply: HFAC Standards require: “Outdoor access, must be provided for a minimum of 6 hours per day during the daytime, except during inclement weather or for veterinary or emergency reasons.” On this farm, the doors are open to the birds between 1:30 p.m. and nightfall, which meets our requirements. The birds don’t go outside if it is below 54 degrees Fahrenheit, above 94 degrees Fahrenheit, or if it is raining or muddy. The birds must be kept indoors at night to prevent predators from attacking them. Farms often keep hens inside during cold or bad weather.
Reply: There are very specific requirements for the hatches in our Standards. “Hens must have sufficient exit areas appropriately distributed around the buildings i.e., at least one exit every 50 feet along one side of the house to ensure that all hens have ready-access to the outdoor areas. Each exit must allow the passage of more than one hen at a time. Exits must be at least 18” high and 21” wide.” This farm meets these standards.
Reply: According to our Standards, birds are allowed to be beak-trimmed; there is no “cutting off” beaks. The beak trimming must be done before 10 days of age and in a very specific way to meet our Standards. Our Scientific Committee concluded that if the procedure is done under 10 days of age, there is no lasting effect to the birds and assures the birds will not peck each other to death. The reason we allow beak trimming is that, no matter how much space hens have, they WILL feather peck each other. Studies show birds that are not beak-trimmed have a high mortality rate. Our inspector verified the farm not only followed our Standards but has more than the required number of perches for the birds, which helps minimize pecking behaviors.
The air quality in the barns was also less than 10 ppm of ammonia, which is a major indicator of the farmer’s care since this means their litter, which the birds use for dustbathing is more than adequate and well-managed.
“Contracting a disease is initially solely dependent on whether or not a flock has the disease. They cannot spread what they don’t have. Handling healthy bird poses very little risk of disease transmission. Currently, there are no strains of avian influenza in the US.” – Dr. Gregg Burkett
According to our inspection reports, this farm meets all HFAC’s Standards, and then some. If this farm had things to hide, they would not allow public tours on their property.
The Certified Humane program strives to be fully-transparent. Our Standards are on our website for all to see. https://certifiedhumane.org/how-we-work/our-standards/
Our Scientific Committee is made up of the best farm animal scientists and veterinarians in the world. https://certifiedhumane.org/how-we-work/scientific-committee/
PETA’s agenda is to convert people to veganism. See “Does PETA have the right to determine what’s humane considering their view on animals, January 13, 2016)
Our program does not care whether people are vegans, vegetarians or meat eaters. That decision is up to you. Our nonprofit’s mission is to ensure farm animals raised for food are raised in ways that ensure their needs are being met. These needs are not based on our perception of their needs, but their actual needs as determined by our Scientific Committee. It’s unfortunate that PETA is attempting to ruin the reputation of an honorable farmer and egg company whose intentions towards their hens are the most humane.
Posted: February 27, 2018 by Certified Humane®
Oakdell Egg Farms
Oakdell Egg Farms – Salt Lake City, Utah
Back in the early 19th century, “we always gave our laying hens more space to roam around than other producers of that time,” says Mark Woodward, co-owner of the Oakdell Egg Farms. “To this day, caring about how our hens are raised remains a cornerstone of our farming philosophy.”
Mark Woodward and Cliff Lillywhite are co-owners of Oakdell Egg Farms, headquartered in North Salt Lake City, Utah. Related by marriage, the brothers-in-law say their family farm dates to 1905 when Mark’s grandfather, Cecil Woodward and his bride Bertha, received ten chickens as a wedding gift from their family. The newlyweds began incubating eggs and raising chickens, which soon numbered 500. By 1920, the couple was raising more than 2,000 laying hens in a cage-free environment.
Egg collecting was done by hand until the 1960’s when the farm introduced an automated egg collection system for their now 50,000 hens. Mark says, “The process was really semi-automated. I can remember not being allowed to open Christmas pr
esents on Christmas morning until the hens had been feed and some of the eggs were collected by hand.”
During that same period, the farm moved the birds up off the floor and worked to prevent wild birds and other animals from co-mingling with hens to reduce disease and improve food safety. After a few years though, they went back to cage-free production realizing “it’s what consumers wanted,” says Cliff.
Today, Oakdell Egg Farm’s flock live in cage-free aviaries on three of our four farms in Washington, Idaho, and Utah with 500 to 600 acres per farm. “The birds like to move vertically,” says Mark. “So, the aviaries are built high up, so the birds can perch wherever they want and roost up there when they sleep at night.”
Currently, Oakdell raises several thousand hens per farm under Certified Humane® standards.
“When we learned how in sync our own animal welfare practices were with Certified Humane’s animal welfare standards, we knew we wanted to become Certified Humane,” says Mark. “It’s a label we trust and know consumers also trust.”
Oakdell Egg Farm eggs are available in Washington, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, and Montana. Most of Oakdell’s eggs, however, are sold under grocery store brand names, so visit Certified Humane’s “Where to Buy” page or download the app to find Certified Humane® eggs near you.
“This is a rewarding business,” says Cliff. “Not always financially, but we know we provide a high-quality food for people, and from a food safety standpoint we do all we can to make sure to provide the end user with a safe, nutritious, healthy product, while at the same time ensuring the welfare of our birds.”
To learn more, visit their website at: Oakdell Egg Farms
Posted: February 21, 2018 by Certified Humane®
duBreton
DuBreton® offers a complete line of the highest quality pork products from pigs raised and processed to the highest standards of quality and animal care. DuBreton’s Rustic Farm Pork and Organic lines have an increased focus on humane farming techniques and respect the Certified Humane® standards. They were the first Certified Humane® producers in North America and again today, the only Certified Humane® pork producer in Canada
To learn more, visit their website here DuBreton.com/en
For information on where to find other Certified Humane® products in your area, visit the “Shop” page of HFAC’s website.
Posted: February 20, 2018 by Certified Humane®
How to decode egg labels
Every day, people stop and stare at egg displays at the supermarket. They open and close the egg cartons, look at pictures on the carton of hens dancing in the sunshine, and mull over words, like “natural” or “organic,” in an effort to determine if the eggs they are holding were laid by happy hens.
For people who care how hens are raised, the quickest and easiest solution to this egg dilemma is to look for egg cartons with the Certified Humane Raised and Handled® label. The Certified Humane® label assures consumers that farmers are adhering to a precise set of Animal Care Standards. These standards are written and continually updated by world-renowned veterinarians and animal welfare scientists. And, in the interest of full transparency, our Standards
are displayed on our website for everyone see.
In addition to lighting, air, and food requirements, these standards also require cage-free living, enrichments for the hens, like perches and proper space where they can do what hens do, like flapping their wings or dustbathing their feathers.
The Certified Humane® label also guarantees that third-party inspectors – veterinarians and animal welfare scientists with master’s degrees or Ph.D.’s in their field of farm animal care – routinely inspect farms to ensure these standards are always being met and followed.
Simply put, the Certified Humane® label lets consumers know that Humane Farm Animal Care is on the job setting the standards and verifying the well-being of the laying hens in the program.
This knowledge will make you a rock star on the egg aisle. As you hone in on the Certified Humane® label and grab your eggs and go, people will see your certainty about your purchase and will stop to look at what eggs you just bought.
If you feel compelled to educate others about the Certified Humane® label, we want you to be super savvy about the egg industry’s marketing lingo. After all, your friends may try to convince you their “natural” eggs belong to hens that are humanely-raised too. (They are not).
So, here’s a primer on the terms most commonly seen on egg cartons and what those terms mean (or don’t mean) for the hens on the farm.
ORGANIC
The “Organic” label, regulated by the USDA, addresses environmental issues, and not the well-being of laying hens. The USDA defines “Organic” as a labeling term “that indicates that the food or other agricultural product has been produced through approved methods that integrate cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering may not be used.”
While a USDA blog refers to organic eggs as coming from hens who have “liberal access to the outdoors,” it does not provide any specific requirements of the space and leaves it up the farmer and certifying agent to decide upon.
NON-GMO
Non-GMO means a hen is fed a diet that is free from genetically-modified organisms. That is good, but that’s all it means when alone on an egg carton. “Non-GMO” doesn’t outline any humane standards of care for laying hens.
VEGETARIAN-FED
Some people think the words “Vegetarian-Fed” means hens are vegetarians. They are not. On pasture, hens eat worms, grubs, and bugs. But vegetarian-fed does mean your hens aren’t being fed animal by-products, like ground chicken. This is a good thing, which is covered in our Animal Care Standards too. But again, these words alone do not offer any humane standards of care for laying hens.
CAGE-FREE
This label is regulated by the USDA, and means, “Hens can move freely within the building/hen house and have unlimited access to food and fresh water during their production cycle.” Under this term, however, the USDA offers no space requirements for the laying hens. The Certified Humane® program requires “1.5 square feet per hen, litter for dust bathing, perches for the birds, and ammonia levels at a maximum of 10ppm, which means the scent is imperceptible,” just to cite a few of our humane standards for hens living cage-free in barns.
FREE-RANGE
The “Free-Range” label is regulated by the USDA and acknowledges “continuous access to the outdoors during their production cycle, which may or may not be fenced and/or covered with netting-like material.” It sounds great, but like the word “Organic,” Free-Range doesn’t stipulate what outdoor access really means, or how much space is required for the hens, which means anyone can put “Free-Range” on their label, even if the hens are outside for five minutes. Certified Humane® defines Free-Range as having at least 6 hours of outdoor access and a minimum of two square feet of outdoor space per bird.
PASTURE-RAISED
The term “Pasture-Raised” is not regulated by the USDA and is a marketing term used solely to confuse consumers. Wow, right? This marketing term dupes many consumers into believing that hens are on pasture-all day. Because it’s not a regulated term, anyone can slap “pasture-raised” across their egg carton. Certified Humane® does have a definition for “Pasture-Raised, which requires 6-hours of outdoor space and 2-square-feet per bird. Currently, eight farms are Certified Humane® “Pasture-Raised.”
NATURAL
Under the USDA, “Meat, poultry, and egg products labeled as “natural” must be minimally-processed and contain no artificial ingredients.” In other words, the “natural” label is about how the food is processed and does not include any definitions for how the hens are care for on the farm.
NO ADDED HORMONES
It might surprise you to learn that Federal regulations have banned the use of growth in hormones in poultry since the 1950s.
So, labels that say, “no antibiotics” or “no hormones” on egg cartons are just trying to make you think that other farmers may be using them. It’s a sneaky term that again has nothing to do with the humane treatment of laying hens.
HUMANE
The word “Humane” is not regulated by the USDA, which is why Humane Farm Animal Care launched in 2003 and gathered the world’s top veterinarians and animal welfare scientists to write humane standards of care for farm animals. Just like any other animal, cows, chickens, pigs, sheep, goats, turkeys and other farm animals deserve to have their emotional, mental and physical needs met. We believe they should be raised and housed in a way that allows them to express natural behaviors throughout their lives. Backed by science and confirmed by inspectors, the Certified Humane Raised and Handled® label is the label egg shoppers should look for it they want to buy their eggs from farmers interested in meeting a higher standard of welfare for their hens. We hope shopping on the egg aisle just got easier for you. Check out our Where to Buy page or download our Certified Humane® app to find stores near you with Certified Humane® eggs.