The Canadian government is investing in better animal welfare

Consumer confidence in Canadian livestock and meat products is based on a robust government food safety system. The Canadian government is committed to providing producers with the tools and resources they need to implement the latest farming practices to improve animal welfare and provide safe, quality food for Canada and the world.

On August 8, Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced an investment of up to $3 million CAD in 3 national organizations to improve animal welfare and traceability in the country.

Treating animals humanely, keeping them in adequate conditions, and being able to track their movements is an important part of consumer confidence in their food in Canada. Therefore, through investments in AgriAssurance, organizations will update industry standards for the care and handling of animals and be able to use new technology to better track farm animals in the event of a disease outbreak.

Investments will be distributed in three areas:

1. Animal Health Canada will receive up to $2.9 million CAD to update national livestock sector rulebooks, including a code for safe and humane transportation of Livestock. The organization previously developed a rulebook for the aquaculture sector.
2. The Canadian Cattle Identification Agency will be awarded about $52,000 CAD to evaluate the use of ultrahigh-frequency scanners to read bovine identification tags as part of Canada's commitment to the international community to quickly track animal movements in the event of an outbreak of infection. The readings are recorded in a database, allowing the government and industry to quickly contain the scale of a potential outbreak, protecting animal and human health.
3. The Canadian Poultry and Egg Processing Council relies on about $36,000 CAD to update its hatchery animal welfare program to meet the National Farm Animal Care Board's Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Hatching Eggs.

Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Food, said in a statement: "The dedication of Canadian producers to the welfare of their farm animals is what makes our livestock system world famous. By improving our standards and practices for care and tracking, consumers can be assured that our food system is meeting the highest standards

AgriAssurance is a $74 million CAD federal initiative to build public trust by helping industry develop and implement systems, standards and tools that allow it to make credible, meaningful and verifiable claims about the quality of Canadian agricultural products.