Here’s why.
Humane Farm Animal Care’s Animal Care Standards ensure that farm animals in our program don’t live in cages or gestation crates, but on farms where they have space to flap their wings and exhibit natural behaviors.
Our Animal Care Standards also prevent the use of antibiotics, growth hormones and animal by-products in farm animal feed. Our standards have prohibited the use of antibiotics since 2003.
Why is this part of the Certified Humane program?
Because it is more humane for farm animals and protects human health as well.
You see, in 1942, factory farms began using Penicillin experimentally on farm animals (before it was introduced to people). They did this because factory farming situations created tremendous stress on the animals, so much so that their immune systems were suppressed. Studies showed that hens fed low doses of Penicillin laid more eggs and pigs produced more surviving piglets.
Since then, factory farming practices have routinely used antibiotics to boost growth or increase reproduction in farm animals. This is because the animals did not get sick as much since these antibiotics were given daily in feed. This is called the sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics.
Today, more than 80% of farmers give sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics to farm animals to prevent diseases that occur because of factory farming practices, like overcrowding.
Certified Humane provides a better answer for farm animal care.
HFAC’s Animal Care Standards provides precise space requirements for each type of farm animal to reduce stress, overcrowding and the diseases that result, thus eliminating the need altogether of routine antibiotic use.
This is important because routine antibiotic use not only suppresses the immune system of farm animals, it increases the risk that people will develop antibiotic resistance too.
And, the issue of antibiotic resistance in people is a very serious issue. Antibiotics treat bacteria. If your body becomes resistant to an antibiotic and you are prescribed that specific antibiotic to kill the bacteria that has made you sick, it will not work to kill that bacteria and you could die. The drugs once used to treat illness no longer work anymore, meaning disease can get out of control because there is no longer any drug that can kill a specific bacteria.
Antibiotic resistance has become a “serious global health concern,” according to the World Health Organization. Knowing that farm animals receive antibiotics routinely – especially when they don’t need it – is the major cause of antibiotic resistance since we are eating the animals that are pumped with unnecessary antibiotics. That is what causes antibiotic resistance in people.
Certified Humane offers a much better approach to farm animal care that benefits both farm animals and people.
Since 2003, our Animal Care Standards has provided precise space requirements for each type of farm animal to reduce stress, overcrowding and the diseases that result, thus eliminating the need for routine antibiotic use. We allow antibiotic use for sick animals only – NOT for prevention, NOT to increase the size of an animal, and NOT to help animals produce more offspring. Last year alone, 96.7 million farm animals did not receive antibiotics because they were raised under our standards.
During National Nutrition Month, we hope you will ask your grocer to carry Certified Humane® Raised and Handled® label products. Your purchase supports the Certified Humane farmers who have stepped up to the plate this last decade and made the commitment to NOT give antibiotics or growth hormones to farm animals.
The Certified Humane® Raised and Handled® label gives consumers the confidence to know that farmers are raising their animals with the health and welfare of both farm animals and people in mind.
Posted: December 16, 2015 by HFAC
Certified Humane ranks #1 in Food Demand Survey
Jayson Lusk, food and agricultural economist, recently reported on the December 2015 edition of the Food Demand Survey (FooDS), which tracks consumer preferences and sentiments on the safety, quality, and price of food at home and away from home with particular focus on meat demand.
One of the questions added this month dealt with “consumer perceptions of different animal welfare labels,” Lusk says.
Specifically, respondents were asked: “Which of the following labels, if seen on a meat or animal product in a grocery store, do you think would indicate and assure the highest and lowest levels of farm animal welfare?
Participants viewed nine different labels (randomly ordered) and were asked to indicate the 3 labels with the highest level of animal welfare and the three labels with the lowest level of animal welfare. We are pleased to report that Certified Humane ranked #1 in the survey.
To read Jayson Lusk’s original story, visit here.
Posted: December 4, 2015 by HFAC
We just wanted to share some of our advertising with you
Anthem Motorsports contacted us because they thought their NASCAR fans would be interested in the Certified Humane® program. We ran an ad in The ANNUAL racing magazine this season and we’re already set up to run another ad at the start of the 2016 racing season.
Click here to see: Certified Humane NASCAR Ad
Posted: June 30, 2015 by Adele Douglass
Make your summer celebrations Certified Humane®
In July, many of us will get together with family and friends to celebrate the founding of our great nations – July 1 for Canada and July 4 for the U.S.
For those who eat meat, that often means firing up the barbecue and cooking burgers, steak, hot dogs, chicken, sausage and ribs.
If you’re planning a backyard barbecue that includes meat, won’t you please support farmers that have become Certified Humane®?
The Certified Humane Raised and Handled® label on meat, poultry, and egg products lets you know that farmers are raising their animals with their health and welfare in mind.
Most cattle are raised using hormones (like estrogen) to make them grow faster. Pigs often live in gestation stalls where they can’t turn around or move, except to stand up or lie down. And most chickens are raised in battery cages where they can’t can spread their wings and are so crowded they can’t all stand up or sit down at the same time.
That is the sad world of factory farming.
With 96% of the population eating meat, however, Humane Farm Animal Care wants to create a world where farm animals raised for food are treated humanely throughout their lives.
Thanks to consumer pressure, more and more farmers are implementing Humane Farm Animal Care’s (HFAC) Animal Care Standards on their farms. These standards ensure farm animals don’t live in cages, gestation crates or receive any hormones or antibiotics. These standards ensure that farm animals live in farms and barns where they have space to flap their wings, exhibit natural behaviors, and enjoy enrichments that let them express their natural behaviors.
Third-party inspectors ensure these HFAC’s standards are being met, which is confirmed by the Certified Humane® label on the farmer’s products.
Animals raised for food deserve to be treated humanely. If you want to know if your meat or poultry or eggs are Certified Humane®, look for the Certified Humane® label on products. To find a store near you that sells Certified Humane® products, visit www.certifiedhumane.org or download the free Certified Humane® App.
You can make food choices that improve the lives of farm animals. Please support and buy Certified Humane.®
Have a happy and safe holiday.
Posted: May 13, 2015 by Adele Douglass
Don’t be fooled by food labels
Food labels can be confusing. These days, almost everyone is slapping labels onto egg cartoons and meat products to assure you that their products come from happy farm animals.
But the truth is, those labels don’t prove anything. Those labels don’t have standards or inspectors behind them. Those labels are often just words and gimmicks to get you to buy a product.
That’s why we ask you to look for the Certified Humane® label whenever you are buying meat, poultry, dairy or egg products.
As a nonprofit agency, Humane Farm Animal Care developed the Certified Humane® label to assure consumers that farm animals are raised under the highest standards as established by a scientific committee – all worldwide experts in farm animal care.
Not only do we put the Certified Humane® standards on our website for all to see, but unlike other programs, we also hire independent, third-party experts to inspect every farm in our program.
These inspectors are actual animal welfare experts who must have a Master’s degree or Ph.D. in farm animal welfare or in veterinary medicine before they can become an inspector for the Certified Humane® program.
This third party reporting ensures transparency and that Certified Humane’s® high standards of care are being met for the millions of cattle, pigs, chickens, laying hens, turkeys, sheep, goats, bison and dairy cows in the program.
What happens if a farm fails an inspection? They are not permitted in our program. There is no “phase-in” period for compliance. You must meet all of Certified Humane’s Animal Care Standards from day one.
The good news is, the farms we work with eagerly comply with Certified Humane’s Animal Care Standards. These farmers care deeply about their animals and want you to know, through the Certified Humane product label, that they are meeting Certified Humane’s standards of care.
As a consumer, you can be sure the Certified Humane® label is not a gimmick, but an actual program with inspectors and standards that farmers must follow in order to be in the program.
You can support farmers committed to animal welfare by shopping Certified Humane® today or by downloading the free Certified Humane app.
Through the power of your pocketbook, you can show the world that there are people who care about the humane treatment of farm animals.
Posted: March 13, 2015 by Adele Douglass
More than 12 years ago, HFAC set the standard to keep antibiotics and growth hormones out of our food supply
Here’s why.
Humane Farm Animal Care’s Animal Care Standards ensure that farm animals in our program don’t live in cages or gestation crates, but on farms where they have space to flap their wings and exhibit natural behaviors.
Our Animal Care Standards also prevent the use of antibiotics, growth hormones and animal by-products in farm animal feed. Our standards have prohibited the use of antibiotics since 2003.
Why is this part of the Certified Humane program?
Because it is more humane for farm animals and protects human health as well.
You see, in 1942, factory farms began using Penicillin experimentally on farm animals (before it was introduced to people). They did this because factory farming situations created tremendous stress on the animals, so much so that their immune systems were suppressed. Studies showed that hens fed low doses of Penicillin laid more eggs and pigs produced more surviving piglets.
Since then, factory farming practices have routinely used antibiotics to boost growth or increase reproduction in farm animals. This is because the animals did not get sick as much since these antibiotics were given daily in feed. This is called the sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics.
Today, more than 80% of farmers give sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics to farm animals to prevent diseases that occur because of factory farming practices, like overcrowding.
Certified Humane provides a better answer for farm animal care.
HFAC’s Animal Care Standards provides precise space requirements for each type of farm animal to reduce stress, overcrowding and the diseases that result, thus eliminating the need altogether of routine antibiotic use.
This is important because routine antibiotic use not only suppresses the immune system of farm animals, it increases the risk that people will develop antibiotic resistance too.
And, the issue of antibiotic resistance in people is a very serious issue. Antibiotics treat bacteria. If your body becomes resistant to an antibiotic and you are prescribed that specific antibiotic to kill the bacteria that has made you sick, it will not work to kill that bacteria and you could die. The drugs once used to treat illness no longer work anymore, meaning disease can get out of control because there is no longer any drug that can kill a specific bacteria.
Antibiotic resistance has become a “serious global health concern,” according to the World Health Organization. Knowing that farm animals receive antibiotics routinely – especially when they don’t need it – is the major cause of antibiotic resistance since we are eating the animals that are pumped with unnecessary antibiotics. That is what causes antibiotic resistance in people.
Certified Humane offers a much better approach to farm animal care that benefits both farm animals and people.
Since 2003, our Animal Care Standards has provided precise space requirements for each type of farm animal to reduce stress, overcrowding and the diseases that result, thus eliminating the need for routine antibiotic use. We allow antibiotic use for sick animals only – NOT for prevention, NOT to increase the size of an animal, and NOT to help animals produce more offspring. Last year alone, 96.7 million farm animals did not receive antibiotics because they were raised under our standards.
During National Nutrition Month, we hope you will ask your grocer to carry Certified Humane® Raised and Handled® label products. Your purchase supports the Certified Humane farmers who have stepped up to the plate this last decade and made the commitment to NOT give antibiotics or growth hormones to farm animals.
The Certified Humane® Raised and Handled® label gives consumers the confidence to know that farmers are raising their animals with the health and welfare of both farm animals and people in mind.