Published 5/21/2013

Leah Garces, Director of the US branch of Compassion in World Farming, talks to Feedstuffs about her plan to implement a Food Business scheme. She says:

The aim of the CIWF program is to place farm animal welfare at the heart of the food industry.

Our goal is to raise baseline standards for farm animal welfare. We have run our flagship scheme, the Good Egg Award, since 2007 to celebrate companies that source cage-free eggs. We have now expanded the scheme by launching the Good Chicken Award in 2010, the Good Dairy Award in 2011 and the Good Pig Award in 2012.

We reward companies that are committing to implementing substantial changes and making progress in their sourcing of meat, eggs and dairy products by working collaboratively with us to meet a specific set of criteria.

We estimate that more than 287 million animals are set to benefit each year from the higher welfare policies of our Good Farm Animal Welfare Award winners.

Our challenge here in the USA, is to engage an industry that produces 9 billion chickens annually and that has remained largely hidden from view for a decade. We think the best way to do that is through engagement and collaboration. Our unique awards program is about starting down a road of mutual learning that we believe will result in improving the lives of millions of chickens.

How will we know we have arrived at meaningful reform? When the inside of the chicken farm is not left to our imagination, when there is nothing left to hide.