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| − | Grass Fed
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| − | Details: Enforcement.
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| − | Enforcement is weak. The regulation states that "the addition of the grass fed claim for products formulated with grass fed beef is a type of claim that can be approved through a request for blanket approval." This means that an on-site audit is not required. Instead, the producer must submit documentation to FSIS, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.<ref>“Labeling Guideline on Documentation Needed to Substantiate Animal Raising Claims for Label Submissions.” USDA FSIS, n.d. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/bf170761-33e3-4a2d-8f86-940c2698e2c5/Label-Approval-Guide.pdf?MOD=AJPERES</ref>
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| − | Details: Age of Slaughter.
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| − | While bovines that finish feeding with grain in a feedlot are slaughtered when about one year old, ''grass fed'' animals are allowed to live no longer than two years of their 15-to-20-year life span.<ref>Whisnant, DVM, Patricia. “FAQ Grass Fed Beef.” American Grass Fed Beef (blog). Accessed October 25, 2018. https://www.americangrassfedbeef.com/faq-grass-fed-beef.asp </ref>
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| − | <li>United Egg Producers Certified.
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| − | Details: Freedom to Move.
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| − | According to Consumer Reports, "the UEP Certified guidelines allow continuous confinement in crowded cages in dimly lit buildings without natural light and fresh air. Hens only have to be given enough space to stand upright, with a minimum space requirement of 8 by 8 inches for white laying hens kept in a cage. Producers keeping their hens in cages do not have to allow the hens to move freely, perch, dust bathe, or forage, and nest boxes are not required. While the label is verified, it is not meaningful as an animal welfare label because certain basic conditions, such as the freedom to move, are not required."<ref>“United Egg Producers Certified.” Greener Choices | Consumer Reports, March 23, 2017. http://greenerchoices.org/2017/03/23/united-egg-producers-certified/ </ref>
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| − | <li>USDA Process Verified.
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>According to Consumer Reports, ''Process Verified'' claims can be written by the
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| − | manufacturers themselves—and the claims do not have to be meaningful to the welfare of the
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| − | animals.<ref>“USDA Process Verified.” Greener Choices | Consumer Reports, March 7, 2017.
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| − | http://greenerchoices.org/2017/03/07/usda-process-verified/ </ref>
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>Details: Process Verified.
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>Consumer Reports says, "the USDA Process Verified shield means that one or more
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| − | of the claims made on the label have been verified by the U.S. Department of
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| − | Agriculture. Both the claim and the standard behind the claim can be written by
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| − | the company; the USDA only verifies whether the standard has been met, not
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| − | whether the claim is a meaningful one. The label adds credibility to meaningful
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| − | claims like 'no antibiotics, ever,' but also allows for claims with lower
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| − | standards that mostly reflect the existing industry norm and add little value,
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| − | such as 'raised without growth-promoting antibiotics.'”<ref>ibid.</ref>
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| − | </li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Animal Welfare Approved.
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>This is the only certification that Consumer Reports says has strong standards, yet the
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| − | standards still allow for mutilations<ref>“Animal Welfare Approved.” Greener Choices |Consumer
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| − | Reports, November 16, 2016. http://greenerchoices.org/2016/11/16/awa-label-review/ </ref> and other
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| − | injustices.
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Also, products with this label are challenging to find. A search using their own product finder
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| − | reveals that it's unlikely you will find any products with this label at a grocery store near
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| − | you.<ref>“Find Products.” A Greener World. Accessed October 4, 2018.
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| − | https://agreenerworld.org/shop-agw/product-search/ </ref>
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| − | </li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Certified Sustainable Seafood.
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>Sustainability has nothing to do with the treatment of the fish. Fish typically die of
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| − | suffocation because they are left in the air, or they die by having their throats slit while
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| − | they are alive. Although our concern for fish is typically less than it is for other animals,
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| − | research in cognitive ethology and neurobiology reveals that fish show intelligence, feel pain,
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| − | display emotions, and have many of the other characteristics of the land animals we use for
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| − | food.<ref>Balcombe, Jonathan. What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins.
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| − | Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016. </ref>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Not only that, but the sustainability claim itself is suspect. In a piece titled "Is
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| − | Sustainable-Labeled Seafood Really Sustainable?" NPR reports that scientists and other experts
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| − | believe fisheries are being certified that should not be. In addition, fish are being
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| − | incorrectly counted, rendering the claims of sustainability doubtful.<ref>“Is Sustainable-Labeled
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| − | Seafood Really Sustainable?” NPR.org, February 11, 2013. <a
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| − | href="https://www.npr.org/2013/02/11/171376509/is-sustainable-labeled-seafood-really-sustainable">https://www.npr.org/2013/02/11/171376509/is-sustainable-labeled-seafood-really-sustainable</a></ref>
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| − | </li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Backyard Chickens.
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>Although backyard chickens are not associated with a certification or label like the others that
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| − | we are covering here, they deserve a closer look. A considerable number of people regard the
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| − | practice of keeping chickens in the backyard for food as innocuous. These backyard chickens are
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| − | of the same or similar variety as those on industrial farms—the very farms that account for most
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| − | of the cruelties outlined below.
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Baby chicks often die in transport. A quick search will find numerous reports of chicks being
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| − | shipped alive to backyard hobbyists and dying in transport—and reports of those that make it
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| − | being greatly stressed.
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Backyard chickens, like those on industrial farms, have been selectively bred, which stresses
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| − | their bodies. Here are just a few examples out of many:
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>Laying hens are bred to lay large eggs, which stresses their reproductive systems and
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| − | causes such problems as osteoporosis, bone breakage, and uterus prolapse.<ref>Jamieson,
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| − | Alastair. “Large Eggs Cause Pain and Stress to Hens, Shoppers Are Told,” March 11, 2009,
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| − | sec. Finance.
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| − | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/4971966/Large-eggs-cause-pain-and-stress-to-hens-shoppers-are-told.html
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| − | </ref>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Another stressor for laying hens is the number of their eggs, which is the result of
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| − | selective breeding. A laying hen produces more than 300 eggs a year, but the jungle fowl
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| − | from which they are bred lay 4 to 6 eggs in a year.<ref>Cheng, H.-W. “Breeding of
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| − | Tomorrow’s Chickens to Improve Well-Being.” Poultry Science 89, no. 4 (April 1, 2010):
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| − | 805–13. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3382/ps.2009-00361">https://doi.org/10.3382/ps.2009-00361
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| − | </ref></a></li>
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| − | <li>Chickens used for meat have been bred to grow at an unnaturally fast rate and have large
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| − | breasts. This selective breeding comes with serious welfare consequences: leg disorders;
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| − | skeletal, developmental, and degenerative diseases; heart and lung problems; respiratory
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| − | problems; and premature death.<ref>Stevenson, Peter. “Leg and Heart Problems in Broiler
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| − | Chickens.” Compassion in World Farming, January 2003.
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| − | https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/3818898/leg-and-heart-problems-in-broilers-for-judicial-review.pdf
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| − | </ref>
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| − | </li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>In the hatcheries from which backyard chicken hobbyists order baby chicks, the males are either
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| − | ground alive in macerators, gassed, or smothered to death soon after they are hatched. This is
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| − | because the laying hens are selectively bred for producing eggs, not meat, rendering the males
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| − | useless for their intended purpose.<ref>Blakemore, Erin. “Egg Producers Pledge More Humane Fate for
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| − | Male Chicks.” Smithsonian, June 13, 2016.
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| − | https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/egg-producers-pledge-more-humane-fate-male-chicks-180959394/
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| − | </ref>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Backyard hens are likely to be slaughtered when egg production wanes, preventing them from
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| − | living out their natural lives. As one hobbyist euphemistically put it, "when the expenses
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| − | outweigh the value, then changes have to be made."<ref>“At What Age Do You Kill a Laying Hen?”
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| − | BackYard Chickens. Accessed November 2, 2018.
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| − | https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/at-what-age-do-you-kill-a-laying-hen.837302/ </ref>
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| − | </li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Cruelty and suffering are systemic in using animals as commodities for profit.
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>The abuses inflicted on farmed animals are many and often severe, and they're part of the normal
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| − | operations of exploiting animals for food. These abuses include confinement, crowding, mutilation,
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| − | deprivation of natural behaviors, debilitating selective breeding, cruel handling, separation from their
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| − | offspring, and, of course, slaughter.
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Because many of the abuses are systemic, they cannot be humanely-labeled away. To be profitable, animal
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| − | agriculture depends on animals being mistreated. For any label or certification to omit all animal
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| − | abuses would render the products unaffordable by all but the most affluent.
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>The cruelty stems in part from the attitudes that surround the commodification of animals, as
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| − | exemplified by a piece in ''Hog Management'', which recommends that farmers "forget the pig is an
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| − | animal—treat him just like a machine in a factory."<ref>Prescott, Matthew. “Your Pig Almost Certainly Came
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| − | from a Factory Farm, No Matter What Anyone Tells You - The Washington Post,” July 15, 2014.
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| − | https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/07/15/your-pig-almost-certainly-came-from-a-factory-farm-no-matter-what-anyone-tells-you/
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| − | </ref>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Here are a few specific examples of cruelty not covered earlier. These are allowed under many, if not
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| − | most, labels and certifications.
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>The early separation of calves from their mothers, depriving the calves of the love and milk of
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| − | their mothers and depriving the grieving cow of her nurturing instinct<ref>University of Veterinary
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| − | Medicine, Vienna. (2015, April 28). Early separation of cow and calf has long-term effects on
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| − | social behavior. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 26, 2018 from
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| − | www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150428081801.htm </ref>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Painful debeaking of chickens, depriving them of their ability to engage in preening and
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| − | foraging<ref>Welfare Implications of Beak Trimming.” American Veterinary Medical Association,
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| − | February 7, 2010.
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| − | https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/LiteratureReviews/Pages/beak-trimming-bgnd.aspx^^“UPC
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| − | Factsheet - Debeaking.” United Poultry Concerns, Inc. Accessed March 28, 2018.
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| − | https://www.upc-online.org/merchandise/debeak_factsheet.html </ref>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Forcing a hesitant animal to move by any methods necessary, including whipping, prodding,
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| − | dragging, and forklifting (the evidence for this can be seen in numerous videos and the several
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| − | firsthand accounts in the book ''Slaughterhouse'' by Gail A. Eisnitz)
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>The dehorning of cows, which one professor of animal science calls "the single most painful
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| − | thing we do,"<ref>Dehorning: ‘Standard Practice’ on Dairy Farms,” ABC News, January 28, 2010,</ref>
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| − | done via acid, burning, sawing, or cutting with a gigantic clipper<ref>M’hamdi, Naceur, Cyrine
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| − | Darej, and Rachid Bouraoui. “Animal Welfare Issues Concerning Procedures Of Calves Dehorning.”
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| − | Department of Animal Sciences, National Institute of Agronomy of Tunisia and Hiher School of
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| − | Agriculture of Mateur, Bizerte, Tunisia, 2013 </ref>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>The clipping of teeth and tails of piglets, a painful procedure usually performed without
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| − | medication and which may also result in infections, tumors, and the suppression of natural
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| − | behaviors<ref>“Welfare Implications of Teeth Clipping, Tail Docking and Permanent Identification of
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| − | Piglets.” American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), July 15, 2014. <a
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| − | href="https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/LiteratureReviews/Pages/Welfare-implications-of-practices-performed-on-piglets.aspx">https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/LiteratureReviews/Pages/Welfare-implications-of-practices-performed-on-piglets.aspx</a> </ref>
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| − | </li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Humane-sounding labels and certifications may be best thought of as marketing.
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>The animal agriculture industry is aware of the growing concern for animals and know that if they appear
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| − | to be uncaring, sales and profits will decline. They also know that few will examine these
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| − | humane-sounding claims to see if they are true. So these labels and certifications give the appearance
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| − | of being humane, assuaging the guilt of compassionate buyers.
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>They may also engender higher profits, because the industry also knows that concerned, kindhearted
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| − | consumers are willing to pay more for products they perceive to be humanely produced.
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| − | </li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>You cannot buy products made from animals that have been treated humanely.
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>Even if you buy into the idea that it’s OK to eat animal products as long as the animals are treated
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| − | well, there is virtually no chance that the animals have, in fact, been treated well, regardless of what
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| − | label is on the package. While certain labels may represent less suffering for some of the abuses, other
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| − | abuses remain. The mitigation of some of the cruelties does not justify the remaining ones.
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>As we have shown and as exposed via Consumer Reports and other sources, the standards for these
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| − | humane-sounding labels are weak and they often go unenforced.
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>The life of any farmed animal can only be described as one of commodified, abusive servitude ending in
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| − | brutal slaughter. When viewed objectively, free from the fog of our cultural norms, their treatment and
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| − | slaughter, no matter the label or certification—and by any standard of fairness and justice—cannot be
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| − | considered humane.
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| − | </li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Meta
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>Contributors
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>Greg Fuller — Author</li>
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| − | <li>Isaac Nickerson — Copy Editor</li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | <li>Revisions
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>2018-11-07 Initial post completed —glf</li>
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| − | <li>2018-11-16 First editing pass completed —isn</li>
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| − | <li>2018-11-20 Published—glf</li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | </li>
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| − | </ul>
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| − | {{jfa-expand-end}}
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| − | {{jfa-expand | footnotes}}
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| − | <references />
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| − | {{jfa-expand-end}}
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