When it comes to animal welfare policies and processes, count on us to lead the way. In fact, we're recognized by the world's foremost experts in animal well-being as setting the standard for America's pork industry—and we're applying those same best practices to our global operations.
"Smithfield's announcement that it will phase out sow gestation stalls has started an important trend. It has been an industry leader in animal welfare initiatives, and the conversion of farms to group housing is a welcome development."
Temple Grandin, Ph.D.
Professor of Animal Science
Colorado State University
Comprehensive Animal Management
For many years, Murphy-Brown, our livestock production subsidiary, used its own industry-leading animal welfare management program to ensure our animals receive proper care. Our Animal Welfare Management System (AWMS) was closely developed with two of the world's foremost experts in animal behavior and animal handling.
Experts from a variety of disciplines—veterinary medicine, reproductive physiology, production management, marketing, management system administration, legal, logistics, and public affairs—participated in an animal welfare committee to make sure animal well-being practices would be evaluated from many different perspectives.
A few years ago, based on our leading animal welfare role in the industry, Murphy-Brown and Smithfield Foods volunteered to provide input and recommendations to help the National Pork Board enhance its own animal care program for all pork producers.
That program became the National Pork Board's Pork Quality Assurance Plus Program, better known as PQA Plus. The concepts and methods of AWMS and PQA Plus are essentially the same, but the PQA Plus program offers a unified, industry approach for animal welfare and food safety issues.
The National Pork Board and National Pork Producers Council have set a goal of certifying all pork producers under the PQA Plus program by December 31, 2010. We encourage all 67,000 U.S. hog producers to become certified and have their farms assessed under the PQA Plus program by this date.
For more information on PQA Plus please visit the PQA Plus Web site.