Humane Choice is a whole of farm accreditation system for free range pork, beef, lamb, chicken and egg producers.
With
the recent publicity on free range produce this important initiative
could not be more timely. The Humane Choice label will initially
cover free range beef, pork, lamb, chicken and eggs and will guarantee the consumer
that the animal has been treated with respect and care, from birth through
to death. There is only ONE humane choice standard so there is no
ambiguity for the consumer.
The
Humane Choice label will denote the animal has had the best life and death
offered to any farm animal. They basically live their lives as they would
have done on Old McDonald’s farm, being allowed to satisfy their
behavioural needs, to forage and move untethered and uncaged, with free
access to outside areas, shade when it’s hot, shelter when it’s cold,
with a good diet and a humane death.
Procedures
such as mulesing, nose ringing, tail docking, beak trimming or any form of mutilation
will not be allowed. Weaning of animals shall enable the natural
process of animal rearing to occur, sows will not be kept confined in
stalls and transportation shall be kept to a minimum.
Humane
Society International will administer this label and has chosen AUS-QUAL to audit producers who wish
to become Humane Choice accredited. AUS-QUAL provides professional industry certification across
Australia and New Zealand.
To
stop confusion over labelling of
free range produce, we want to take
the guesswork out of consumer decision making where animal welfare
standards are concerned. There is only one ‘Humane Choice’ so
there is no variation in standards and consumers can have full confidence
in the integrity of the product.