The Animal Care Assessment programme was launched in 2005 as a voluntary stand alone component of the Canadian Quality Assurance programme to allow producers to demonstrate responsible pork production validated by an outside party.

Effective 1 January 2012 the Canadian Pork Council plans to merge the two programmes.

Alberta Pork chair Jim Haggins says when the Animal Care Assessment was originally introduced the intent was to implement it more fully but financial stresses on the pork industry have delayed that implementation and those stresses still exist.

Jim Haggins-Alberta Pork

At the present time Alberta's continuing with the voluntary aspect of ACA Animal Care Assessment not making it mandatory as the pre-requisite to CQA accreditation.

Secondarily, a key portion of the ACA is following the code of practice for swine.

That is a document that currently is quite old and it's being changed.

This year and next year they hope to have the code changed and negotiated to new standards of care and we're not sure at this point in time how they're going to be defined and we're awaiting word on that and then an evaluation at that time as to how easily producers can get up to speed per the requirements in the new code of practice.

Mr Haggins stresses Alberta Pork continues to encourage the voluntary adoption of the ACA and offers producers assistance in completing their validations.

He encourages producers to familiarize themselves with the programme, knowing there will be changes coming in the future.