Sharing Our Audit Results

Mérieux NutriSciences Audit Results

Criteria for this audit are based on the “National Chicken Council Animal Welfare Guidelines” published by the National Chicken Council (updated in 2017 and PAACO certified) and “Poultry Slaughter Plant and Farm Audit: Critical Control Points for Bird Welfare, August 2005,” published by Temple Grandin, PHD, at www.grandin.com.

NutriSciences conducted annual audits at 12 of our poultry live production and harvesting operations, including hatchery, grow out (farms), catching and transportation, and processing. The audit covers 73 audit points, scored on a scale of one to five, for a maximum possible score of 365 points. Operations are rated on a percentage basis.

We received scores between 98.89% and 100% for all locations audited.

We had 6 minor nonconformances:

• Dead chick on a gray cart in the chick room after finishing the separation and boxing of chicks.
• The auditor found Uncut grass on the long wall on the southwest side of the house and open rodent bait stations.
• The Sensible bird percentage is 1.4%
• 3 - Effectiveness of the mechanical knife

USDA Process Verified Program Audit Results

Our USDA Process Verified Program (updated continuously and PAACO certified) covers all our live-production and harvesting operations. The audit tool combines the principles from the National

Chicken Council Animal Welfare Guidelines (updated 2022 and PAACO certified) and our best practices.

Participation in this program is approved by the Agricultural Marketing Service of the USDA. Companies that operate under a Process Verified Program must comply with criteria outlined in the program requirements and are audited annually. Since the AMS audits were developed using ISO 19001 Guides for Quality Management Systems audits, they are not “scored.” Instead, they identify nonconformances, which are classified as major and or minor.

The past year, the USDA Livestock, Poultry, and Seed Program’s Quality Assessment Division conducted annual audits in 8 of our 11 chicken live-production and harvesting operations for conformance to our USDA Process Verified Program Poultry Care. Each audit covers a minimum of 188 audit points in more than 50 areas

2 Majors

• Ammonia above 25 ppm during farm visit
• Missing training
  
  

8 Minors

• Culling was inadequate
• 2 - More than 3 leg injuries were observed during the evaluation.
• More than 10 birds passed the machine without being cut to induce bleed out.
• More than 10 birds were not stunned.
• More than 4% wings were broken or dislocated
• Caked litter was prevalent throughout the house
• Ammonia readings greater than 25 ppm

Global Animal Partnership

Some of our customers require Global Animal Partnership (GAP) certification, which applies to the farms raising chickens for those products. GAP-certified farms are audited every 15 months.

During 2024, GAP audited 184 farms, all of which passed GAP certification. GAP identified

42 findings:

• 1 - Disposal of euthanized birds
• 1 - Annual average flock mortality exceeded 5%
• 1 - Too many culls in the house
• 1 - Lameness evaluations were not being done correctly
• 1 - Poor litter quality
• 1 - Ammonia exceeded 20 ppm
• 1 - Not enough shade at time of audit
• 1 - Did not have the correct amount enrichments for every 750 square feet of indoor space
• 1 - Carrying more than 4 birds per hand
• 1 - Hatch pull times not tracked at one complex
• 2 - Litter caking exceeded 10% threshold
• 3 - Historical sampled flocks exceeded stocking density of 6 lbs. per square feet
• 5 - Not enough windows to meet natural light 1% compliance
• 5 - Delivery tickets missed documented time when chicks were pulled from hatchery and when they left the hatchery
• 7 - Missing transport log
• 11 - Stocking density must not exceed 6 lbs. per square feet.

USDA Certified Organic

Every farm raising organic chickens for us is third-party audited to meet the requirements of the National Organic Program for USDA Certified Organic. Farms are inspected annually by third-party organic certifiers.

All 139 farms raising organic chickens passed their audit. The audits identified six nonconformances.

• Record keeping / FAIR List - A supplement that was fed to birds was not recorded.
• Record keeping / daily flock records – The outdoor access records had a temperature that was not recorded.
• 2 - Gate closed and/or missing fence in back pasture.
• Ramp drops were greater than the maximum allowed.
• Outdoor Access - Access started on day 24, should have been day 21.

American Humane Certification

In 2025, Perdue Farms earned American Humane Certifications for two of its broiler farms.

Customer Welfare Audits

Our operations are regularly subject to audits by our customers to ensure adherence to their standards. We passed all customer audits.

Third-Party Video Monitoring

We use third-party video monitoring in live-bird handling areas in all 11 of our harvest facilities. This includes random reviews of videos covering nine million birds in 205,000 audit events during 2024. We achieved a compliance rate of 99.95 percent.