Our standards for animal care are guided by the Five Freedoms, the globally accepted gold standard for animal husbandry, including:

• Freedom from hunger and thirst
• Freedom from discomfort
• Freedom from pain, injury or disease
• Freedom to express normal behavior
• Freedom from fear and disease

For us, the Five Freedoms align with our animal care goal of going beyond giving animals what they need, to giving them what they want.

Our approach to animal care is a process of continuous improvement involving a wide range of stakeholders, with a commitment to transparency. We believe that welfare goes beyond meeting the physical needs of animals and that success is measured by more than efficiency and productivity.

We take a collaborative approach to animal care, adhering to strict requirements under the guidance of a team of veterinarians and animal welfare professionals, and input from third-party experts.

Mistreatment or abuse of animals is never tolerated. All associates handling live animals are provided training, including their responsibility to report any violations of our animal welfare policies. The farmers and ranchers who raise animals for us share in the responsibility to provide care according to our best practices and standards, and to alert us to any issues involving animal health or welfare. We regularly engage them for their input as part of our continuous improvement process.

To guide our journey and ensure compliance to our current animal welfare programs at Perdue Farms, our activities follow these Best Practices and Guiding Principles:

• The internationally accepted Five Freedoms as applied to raising animals.
• Animal welfare practices should balance scientific knowledge and professional judgment with consideration of ethical and social values.
• The actual care of animals should be foremost, not how people might perceive a practice in a farm environment.
• Animals should be treated with respect throughout their lives and provided a humane death when processed for food or when they are euthanized for any reason.
• We work with independent experts in animal husbandry to help guide and improve our animal welfare programs.
• We provide a toll-free hotline where anyone can report welfare violations.
• We provide formal welfare training and annual refresher training for all Perdue associates and contractors, including farmers and ranchers, who handle live animals.
• We require all the farmers and ranchers who raise animals for food to sign an animal welfare agreement to ensure our protocols and program standards are met.
• We hold an annual Animal Care Summit, hog farmer weekend and beef summit with diverse stakeholders, including animal welfare advocates and experts, farmers, ranchers and customers.

At Perdue Farms, we take pride in being an industry leader in animal care and remain committed to our journey of continuous improvement and doing the right things for the right reasons.