Farming and your Freedom - Pork - the other white meat - with feelings
MISSOURI - Evidence continues to pile up, some of it anecdotal, but much of it certain, that growing numbers of people are concerned about the ethical treatment of animals by livestock producers in the process of getting their products to the dinner table. Treatment of animals in general is a sensitive topic these days.
30 June 2006
2 minute read
This week, the Pork Quality Assurance Plus Program was introduced at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines. It represents a serious attempt by pork producers to include the well-being of its animals in its quality control management, a nod to animal rights advocates who watch the livestock industry closely these days. Like the circus, the livestock producer is making a sea change in how he views the public's ideas about animal treatment - and his own.
A unit called the Pork Industry Animal Care Coalition will provide the PQA Plus, funded through the Pork Checkoff. The coalition is made up of pork producers, packers and processors, restaurants, and food retailers. It began meeting early in 2005 to work toward finding a way to build up consumer confidence that U.S. pork is produced by workers who respect an animal's well-being during the process.
Source: Missouri Valley
