We Ensure Respectful Animal Treatment
Our USDA Process Verified Program for Poultry Care covers all our poultry operations. The Perdue Poultry Care Program encompasses all phases of our supply chain, including breeder and hatchery operations, appropriate comfort and shelter on the farms, comprehensive healthcare and monitoring, nutrition, catching, transporting and harvesting.
Our USDA Process Verified Program for Poultry Care provides the added assurance of an audited program with more than 50 documented points from hatchery to harvest, and it covers all our growing areas and harvest operations.
Our Poultry Care Program combines principles from the National Chicken Council, our own best practices and the Perdue Commitments to Animal Care initiatives to create a baseline of care that helps ensure the health, comfort and safety of every chicken we raise.
For poultry raised indoors, we use temperature-controlled housing with fresh-air ventilation. In the house, chickens are protected from the elements, disease and predators, and they are given constant access to food and water, sufficient room to move and exhibit most natural behaviors, and periods of light and darkness.
All our organic and other free-range chickens are raised on farms that provide:
In addition, our organic chickens are raised on farms rated GAP 2 or higher by the Global Animal Partnership (GAP). On GAP 2-4 farms, to protect birds from the elements, they are allowed outside during the daytime once their feathers are fully developed, which is typically around 4 weeks of age. Birds may come indoors at night and when temperatures are too cold for their comfort. For GAP 5 farms, birds have outdoor perches and are allowed 24-hour access to the pasture area. This program uses a breed that is better suited to the outdoors.
We’re committed to meeting demand from current and future customers who desire a sustainable supply of chicken that meets all the “2024” animal welfare criteria outlined in the “Joint Animal Protection Agency Statement on Broiler Chicken Welfare Issues” and by the Global Animal Partnership.
PERDUE® is the nation’s largest No-Antibiotics-Ever turkey brand*. All of our No-Antibiotics-Ever turkeys are fed a vegetarian diet and are certified in the USDA Process Verified Program by USDA auditors. Our growing barns provide natural light for our turkeys. We do not use antibiotics for disease prevention.
As part of our commitment to higher welfare standards for the turkeys we raise, we follow the National Turkey Federation Standards of Animal Care Guidelines and our farms are audited annually by PAACO certified auditors.
The farmers who raise our turkeys share an equal responsibility to provide care according to our standards and make us aware of any issues involving animal health or welfare.
*Source: MULO & MULO + Convenience data is reported by Information Resources, Inc. through its Integrated Fresh Market Advantage = Integrated TSV Syndicated Database, for the Total Turkey RWNW NAE & Total Ground Turkey NAE Categories for the 52-week ending period 10/04/20.
Our Coleman Natural operations source hogs only from American Humane Certified™ U.S. family farms that are crate free and never use antibiotics, hor-mones or growth-promoting drugs. Coleman was the pioneer in establishing the first USDA Natural label for livestock production and raising practices.
Our hogs are raised on an all-vegetarian diet in a combination of pastures, hoop barns, outdoor lots and controlled-atmosphere barns with fresh-air ventilation.
The American Humane Certified program provides third-party verification for every step of live production, transport and harvesting. Our farmers must meet or exceed more than 200 science-based humane animal care standards to produce for the Coleman Natural brand.
Niman Ranch is a community of more than 600 independent family farmers and ranchers who raise pork, beef and lamb traditionally, humanely and sustainably to deliver the Finest-Tasting Meat in the World®.
Niman Ranch livestock are raised outside or in deeply bedded pens where the animals are able to root, roam, socialize, play and exhibit their natural behaviors comfortably. Niman Ranch protocols strictly prohibit animal byproducts in feed, antibiotics, hormones, gestation and farrowing crates.
Niman Ranch is the largest farmer and rancher network in North America to be 100% Certified Humane®, a certification recognized as one of the most stringent animal welfare protocols available. In addition to third-party certification, all Niman Ranch farms and ranches are personally inspected before being accepted into the program and are visited and audited regularly by Niman Ranch field agents.
Niman Ranch has letters of support from the Humane Society of the United States, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Compassion in World Farming recognizing the brand’s long-held leadership in animal care.
Niman Ranch continued its animal welfare leadership in the industry as an outspoken advocate for crate-free hog production, including its support for California’s ground-breaking Proposition 12 and Massachusetts’ Question 3 laws. Niman Ranch submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of these laws, which was cited in the final majority opinion upholding Proposition 12 and Question 3 as constitutional.
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