Cargill touts animal welfare objectives

Advancements in the production, handling, transportation and harvest of hogs meet goals

Cargill Pork recently announced it reached several animal welfare assurance objectives with advancements in the production, handling, transportation and harvest of hogs. The goals met are:

  • A policy stipulating the purchase of hogs only from farms certified under the National Pork Producers Council’s Pork Quality Assurance Plus program.
  • Cargill Pork’s live production business completed PQA + certification site assessments for all 450 farms where it has production contracts.
  • Fifty percent of its contract farms are using group sow housing rather than traditional gestation stalls for pregnant sows.
  • Use of the Transportation Quality Assurance policy that only truck drivers certified in humane handling of livestock are allowed to deliver animals to the company’s plants.
  • Having 20 of its plant animal handling personnel trained and certified by the Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization.
  • All company plant employees handling livestock receive specialized training in humane animal handling.
  • The use of video monitoring in plants.
  • A trucker recognition program highlighting livestock haulers for individual performance in the proper handling of hogs.
  • An animal rescue program to respond to emergencies during transportation.
Page 1 of 51
Next Page