A new packer-level welfare audit is taking cattle management by the horns by looking for some very practical things. Are the cattle in good condition? Are they clean? Are they lame?
On June 10, Food Safety Net Services (FSNS), a food safety testing and auditing group, announced the introduction of the Grandin Responsible Care Program. Nolan Ryan Beef has been the first to adopt this new packer-level, observation-based welfare audit program.
The audit program, developed with guidance from Dr. Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, is different than many third-party welfare audits in that it involves actual visual examination of cattle entering partnering packing plants for observable indicators of management.
“There are some definite indicators to make sure you don’t have poor welfare,” Grandin explained to WLJ.
“The emphasis is things you can see and score at the meat packing plant like body condition, dirty cows, swollen hocks—it’s all observable traits.”
Cattle are inspected upon arrival at the participating plant. Grandin pointed out that this is unique compared to other welfare audits; it effectively brings the cattle to the audit rather than the other way around. Travelling to ranches and dairies can be time consuming and logistically difficult.
“That’s the kind of thing that differentiates it,” she went on. “At a meat packing plant you can look at hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of cows really easily.”
FSNS noted that the audit “cannot measure cattle handling or painful procedures that occur prior to arrival at the meat processing plant,” but that it looks for “indicators of responsible care and management.” These indicators include measuring lameness, cleanliness, injuries, and internal health of received animals.
Lori Ernst, FSNS’ senior vice president for audit services, explained to WLJ that the system involves packing plants doing internal, self-auditing throughout the year “to get a good baseline.”
“Then we go in and do a verification that they are doing their internal audits, and then we do the same observations that they would make to make sure everything’s aligned as well,” she said.
When it comes to standards, Ernst said there are not absolutes in the program yet. Instead, the process measures these observable traits being used as welfare indicators and determines for themselves what their acceptable threshold is.
“So, if they consistently get something unacceptable from a given producer or yard, they will determine ‘hey, we don’t want to be involved with that.’ They get to determine ‘no, we’re not going to buy from them anymore.’”
Ernst went on to point out that plants have been doing welfare audits for a long time, “but that’s been focused on how they are handling [the cattle].” This new program can connect the welfare examination back to the previous step in the cattle’s lives.
“It’s another, broader opportunity to ensure proper welfare of the animals throughout their lifetime. That’s really what makes it exciting.
When WLJ asked what drew Nolan Ryan Beef to be the first company to utilize the new welfare audit, Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Operations Cody Marburger said that it fit with the company’s vision.
“We believe our suppliers have really done a good job managing and implementing progressive animal welfare programs over the course of time, but we also think that this is going to serve and prove to be a very valuable tool in advancing those efforts and moving forward,” he said, explaining that the company already utilizes annual third-party welfare audits.
“It will provide us a gauge of where we are now and how we continue to progress as we move forward in the years to come.” — Kerry Halladay, WLJ editor
