Our Perdue Commitments to Animal Care, launched in 2016, is a four-part program to accelerate our progress in animal care by giving our chickens what they want, strengthening our relationships with our farmers, building trust with multiple stakeholder groups and creating an animal care culture for continuous improvement.
At Perdue Farms, our vision is “to be the most trusted name in food and agricultural products®”. That trust extends to our animal care and welfare commitments, and we embrace our responsibility to ensure animals are treated with dignity and respect. In fact, animal welfare is an important part of our Company value of Stewardship.
Our standards for animal care are guided by the Five Freedoms, the globally accepted gold standard for animal husbandry, including:
- Freedom from hunger and thirst
- Freedom from discomfort
- Freedom from pain, injury or disease
- Freedom to express normal behavior
- Freedom from fear and disease
For us, the Five Freedoms align with our animal care goal of going beyond giving animals what they need, to giving them what they want.
Our approach to animal care is a process of continuous improvement involving a wide range of stakeholders, with a commitment to transparency. We believe that welfare goes beyond meeting the physical needs of animals and that success is measured by more than efficiency and productivity.
We take a collaborative approach to animal care, adhering to strict requirements under the guidance of a team of veterinarians and animal welfare professionals, and input from third-party experts.
Mistreatment or abuse of animals is never tolerated. All associates handling live animals are provided training, including their responsibility to report any violations of our animal welfare policies. The farmers and ranchers who raise animals for us share in the responsibility to provide care according to our best practices and standards, and to alert us to any issues involving animal health or welfare. We regularly engage them for their input as part of our continuous improvement process.
All species that are raised and sourced for our brands and products are done so under the following standards:
- The avoidance of confinement for all species.
- No artificial or hormonal growth-promoting substances used, including beta antagonists or ractopamine.
- Antibiotics will only be used when prescribed by a veterinarian with duration limits to ensure the best animal welfare for the animals.
- An emphasis on the freedom to express natural behaviors through environmental enrichments suitable for each specific species.
- Animals raised and sourced throughout our operations have not been subject to any genetic modification or are derived from cloned stock.
- The avoidance of routine activities such as tail docking, teeth clipping/grinding on pigs, beak trimming on poultry and tail docking on cows.
- Travel times for all poultry and livestock are kept to a minimum and our goal is to not exceed eight hours.
- Animals that are rendered insensible prior to being harvested.
- Compliance with all legislative standards and raising and sourcing all animals from animal welfare organizations such as Global Animal Partnership, Certified Humane, American Humane, USDA Certified Organic, United Egg Producers certified, National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management and USDA Processed Verified.
At Perdue Farms, we take pride in being an industry leader in animal care and remain committed to our journey of continuous improvement and doing the right things for the right reasons.
