Canada’s new code of practice for the care and handling of pigs, released early in March, should be viewed as a consensus and not a compromise, says Darcy Fitzgerald, executive director of Alberta Pork.
Starting in the fall of 2010, a 17-member committee was struck by the National Farm Animal Care Council to revise the code, first created in 1984. The latest revision was contentious in a number of areas because of proposals for such practices as sow housing and pain control for routine processes including castration, clipping teeth and docking tails.
Membership in the committee included people from a broad spectrum of interests, including veterinarians, animal welfare groups, producers and industry researchers.
The key factor that must be recognized is that the revised code is an industry driven document and not a government regulation, says Fitzgerald.
“The response from our producers has been very quiet,” he says, remarking that Alberta producers and their organization have spent considerable time over the last couple of years talking about the proposed changes and then submitting responses to the committee.
Alberta producers have been involved throughout the process and packages were sent to them when the 2014 revision was released, says Fitzgerald.
“It was always about consensus and that we do our best to make it, you know, reasonable.”
The consensus process, as vetted by the committee, arrived at a document that should work for everyone while enhancing Canada’s image as a producer of safe, healthy and happy pigs, says Fitzgerald.
There are still some uncertainties, such as which medications will be most effective in pain mitigation for castration, clipping and docking, he says.
“Overall, what was proposed and what’s in the code is stuff that the industry is willing to live with. Now, our big thing is making sure that everybody understands that it was a consensus. We did work on this together; we did come up with this as the code to use for now. We will review it again in 2019 and we review it again in another five years after that.”
Now that they have their new code, it’s time for the industry to work with it and move forward, he says.
Customers buying Canadian pork should see this as a self-imposed code that dovetails with the national quality assurance program, with animal care factors built in. That should help project the image of Canadian pork in domestic and international markets, says Fitzgerald.
“We’re doing a lot of things. For our producers, I think they’ve gone way down the road of doing the best job they can, and they’re using some of the best feed ingredient you can get, having this barley-wheat ration, which is unique to us.”
Those factors create a high standard that must be visible in the grocery stores, says Fitzgerald.
“We were trying to make a change and we were part of that change,” he said. •
— By Brenda Kossowan