On March 16, the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) announced its annual ranking of companies as global leaders in farm animal welfare.
One of which is Canadian packaged meat company Maple Leaf Foods that achieved Tier 2 status with a D impact rating.
The BBFAW is the leading global measure of policy commitment, performance and disclosure on animal welfare in food companies. According to the website, it “is designed to help drive higher farm animal welfare standards in the world’s leading food businesses” by measuring companies in four key areas:
Management commitment and policy
Governance and management
Leadership and innovation
Performance measurement
The companies are ranked in six tiers based on farm animal welfare policies and initiatives and are assigned an A through F impact rating based on the policy’s effectiveness.
Maple Leaf Foods was ranked in Tier 2 with 11 other companies. According to the BBFAW report, Tier 2 means that “the company has made farm animal welfare an integral part of its business strategy.” Maple Leaf Foods was also assigned a D rating which means that “these companies are declaring improved welfare impacts for at least some farm animals in their operations and/or supply chains,” according to the report.
“Maple Leaf Foods is values–driven and deeply committed to providing the highest level of welfare to animals in our care. Our customers expect it, and our animals deserve it,” said Vice President of Animal Care, Kathleen Long, DVM. “We’re proud of our recent, full conversion of all our sow barns to our Advanced Open Sow Housing system that enables our sows to choose when they eat, socialize, play and rest. We appreciate our collaboration with the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare as we strive for ongoing, continuous improvement in our animal care programs.”
Along with the new sow housing system, Maple Leaf Foods has made many other company adjustments to improve farm animal welfare including:
Deployment of trucks with hydraulic lifts to reduce pig stress when boarding and exiting trucks
Purchase of temperature–controlled poultry trailers to protect chickens during extreme cold weather conditions
The use of enrichments in nursery, finisher and sow barns to encourage pigs to play and chew as they naturally would
Researching and piloting of a variety of enrichments in poultry barns that encourage chickens’ natural behaviors to hide, perch and peck
Maple Leaf Foods is also the largest producer of raised–without–antibiotics (RWA) poultry in Canada and is the only Canadian company to be in the BBFAW ranking this year.
