The New York Academy of Sciences will partner with the burgeoning One Health Certified labeling program in an effort to create a new animal production standard aimed at protecting consumers, animals and the environment.
On May 8, Don Ritter, director of technical marketing for Mountaire Farms Inc., announced the nonprofit organization would serve as the host non-governmental organization for One Health Certified (OHC). This means the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) will serve as an independent body to run the certification program. Ritter made the announcement as part of his remarks at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholder Summit in Kansas City, Missouri.
Ritter said this is a significant step for the program he previously discussed in October 2018. He said NYAS will be charged with forming an advisory board and technical committees to oversee the OHC program. They are expected to carry this task out by the end of the year.
A new labeling standard
The goal of the OHC program is to replace the numerous, confusing labels and badges attached to chicken and other packaged meat products with a single, unified label reflecting that the product was produced to achieve optimal health outcomes for animals, people and the planet.
As an example, Ritter focused on the no-antibiotics-ever (NAE) label. He said it is the most common meat label claim, and that’s likely because consumers are concerned about the use of, and potential presence of, antibiotics in their food. However, NAE puts protecting animal health in competition with maintaining a label claim. This leads to higher mortality, according to industry data.
OHC will serve as a new comprehensive, multi-protein animal production standard focused on the concept of One Health, or a combination of animal well-being, antibiotic stewardship and environmental impact. It will be a system-based certification program, meaning all animals would be raised in a system that complies with defined, benchmarked requirements, so consumers can know they are buying products produced in an audited system that uses transparent rules. Rather than using non-governmental, third-party auditing programs to ensure adherence to the standards, audits of OHC compliance will be conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA-AMS).
Ritter said the one health certified program focuses on five core principles: disease prevention, veterinary care, responsible antibiotic use, animal welfare and environmental impact. Consumer research conducted late last year shows a vast majority – 83% – of shoppers would choose products bearing an OHC label and 53% would be willing to pay a premium for OHC products.
Next steps
Ritter said the program will begin with labels appearing on chicken and turkey products. The first packages with the OHC label could be on shelves as soon as this summer, he said. The next protein group would be pork. One Health certification programs for other commodity meats are planned to be created in the future.
The coalition behind the OHC label is waiting on USDA-AMS to complete audit details on the OHC chicken and turkey programs and offer them up for certification. Ritter said he is hopeful that will happen within the next 60 days. Pork is expected to follow a similar path later in 2019.
