Shelburne Farms’ Cheddar Receives “Certified Humane'”

The Certified Humane Raised and Handled label assures consumers that a meat, poultry, egg or dairy product has been produced according to HFAC’s standards for humane farm animal treatment. Animals must receive a nutritious diet without antibiotics or hormones and must be raised with shelter, resting areas and space sufficient to support natural behavior, according to a HFAC statement. Producer compliance with the standards is verified through annual on-site visits by HFAC’s third-party inspectors.

Shelburne Farms joins two other cheesemaking dairies that have been HFAC certified: Redwood Hill in Sebastopol, Calif., and Mcleod Creamery, Oakgrove Meadows, Va., explained Michele Wells, spokesperson for HFAC. To date, 47 companies have received HFAC certification since the program’s launch in May 2003, she said.

Shelburne Farms, a National Historic Landmark, was created in 1886 by William Seward and Lila Vanderbilt Webb as a model agricultural estate. In 1972, it became an educational nonprofit organization. The farm’s woodlands and pastures are home to a herd of 125 purebred, registered Brown Swiss cows. The farm is dedicated to rural land use practices that are environmentally, economically and culturally sustainable.

Based in Herndon, Va., HFAC is a national nonprofit organization supported by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, The Humane Society of the United States, and regional and local animal protection organizations.