Animal Welfare Approved Program
The Animal Welfare Approved program audits and certifies family farmers who raise their animals with the highest animal welfare standards, outdoors on pasture or range. Look for the “Animal Welfare Approved” label on eggs, dairy, and meat products. The standards ensure that cattle graze on green pastures; sows can build nests before giving birth; ducks are always able to swim in clean water; and chickens can forage, dust-bathe and spread their wings. But the Animal Welfare Approved seal is not just a list of rules. It is a philosophy of respect that provides animals on the farm with the environment, housing, and diet they need to engage in essential instinctive behaviors, thereby promoting physiological and psychological health and well-being.
Furthermore, unlike other labeling programs, Animal Welfare Approved requires farmers to raise all animals of an approved species according to high welfare standards and prohibits the liquefaction of manure to help ensure that animals breathe fresh, clean air, instead of fumes from their own gaseous waste. This prevents pollution of wildlife habitats from leakage and spills of liquefied manure, and reduces unnecessary consumption of a most precious natural resource: water.
Reviewed by veterinarians, farmers and scientific experts in animal behavior, and rooted in the Animal Welfare Institute's 59-year track record of reducing the pain and fear inflicted on animals, the Animal Welfare Approved standards give careful thought to the needs of animals and are endorsed by a growing number of farmers, top chefs and notables such as Willie Nelson, Rosemary Harris and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
When you can't visit the farm, Animal Welfare Approved is the eyes and ears of the conscientious consumer.
Visit www.animalwelfareapproved.org for more information on this program.
