info@certifiedhumane.org PO Box 82 Middleburg, VA 20118

Overview

A message from our founder

In the following video, our founder Adele Douglass Jolley explains what inspired the Certified Humane® program and why Humane Farm Animal Care was founded as a nonprofit. Humane Farm Animal Care DBA Certified Humane® is a registered 501(c) 3 nonprofit certification organization, operating internationally and has improved the lives of farm animals since 2003.

The Certified Humane® Raised and Handled logo on product assures consumers that:

The Certified Humane® Raised and Handled
  • Animals are never kept in cages, crates, or tie stalls. Animals must be free to do what comes naturally. For example, chickens must be able to flap their wings and dust bathe, and pigs must have space to move around and root.
  • Animals must be fed a diet of quality feed, without antibiotics or growth hormones.

HFAC’s Fact Sheets for consumers provide information about specific humane issues as they relate to farm animals covered by the Certified Humane® program.

Farm Animal Care Standards

Our Standards were created by a highly-respected scientific committee.

The 40-member Scientific Committee is comprised of animal scientists and veterinarians from the U.S., Canada, Europe, and South America. Producers are reviewed through annual inspections conducted by scientists and veterinarians who are experts in the species they are inspecting. These are third-party independent audits of all farms, ranches, and slaughter and processing facilities. The benefit for shoppers is that they can buy with confidence knowing that meat, poultry, egg and dairy products come from animals who have not received unnecessary antibiotics and the animals are not overcrowded or in confinement systems.

Our History

Our founder and CEO Adele Douglass Jolley grew up imagining farm animals grazing idyllic pastures and roaming open spaces of quaint farms. Like many of us, she had no idea that most farm animals in the United States lived in abysmal conditions of commodity farming operations. She didn’t know they lived in spaces that severely prohibit movement.

In the 1990s, Adele had the opportunity to visit a farm and was shocked when she observed the conditions under which those animals are raised.

As a veteran lobbyist and former congressional staff member, Adele knew the limitations of the legislative process. She immediately saw how a certification and labeling program would enable consumers to vote with their wallets and choose more humane production practices. 

In 2003, she founded Humane Farm Animal Care, the nonprofit entity that began (and still operates) the Certified Humane® program. 

She recruited the help of animal scientists and veterinarians from around the globe to create a Scientific Committee that would establish Farm Animal Standards for the Certified Humane® program. 

Over the years, her vision has become a larger reality, prompted by a more informed public who demands more information about their foods’ production. Every year, more and more farm animals worldwide are raised under Certified Humane® standards.

Community multiplies our impact

The Certified Humane® movement unites three vital communities in a shared mission:

  • Farmers who commit to providing a higher quality of life to the animals in their care
  • Animal scientists who dedicate their professional lives to studying animal welfare and behavior
  • Shoppers who demand more compassionate farming practices through their spending habits

Read more:

> Our Shared Mission
> What happens during the certification process?
> The Values and Principles of Certified Humane®