Sharing Our Audit Results

Mérieux NutriSciences Audit Results

Criteria for this audit are based on the “National Chicken Council Animal Welfare Guidelines” published by the National Chicken Council (updated in 2017 and PAACO certified) and “Poultry Slaughter Plant and Farm Audit: Critical Control Points for Bird Welfare, August 2005,” published by Temple Grandin, PHD, at www.grandin.com.

NutriSciences conducted annual audits at 11 of our poultry live production and harvesting operations, including hatchery, grow out (farms), catching and transportation, and processing. The audit covers a total of 67 audit points, scored on a scale of 1-5, for a maximum possible score of 335 points. Operations are rated on a percentage basis.

• We received scores between 95.65% and 100% for all locations audited.
• We had 0 major nonconformances.
• We had 5 minor nonconformances:
  
  • 1 Failed broken wing check
  • 1 Failed paw check
  • 1 Had birds on the yard for extended hours
  • 1 No updated training records
  • 1 incomplete implementation of rodent program

USDA Process Verified Program Audit Results

Our USDA Process Verified Program (updated continuously and PAACO certified) covers all our live-production and harvesting operations. The audit tool combines the principles from the National Chicken Council Animal Welfare Guidelines (updated 2022 and PAACO certified) and our best practices.

Participation in this program is approved by the Agricultural Marketing Service of the USDA. Companies that operate under a Process Verified Program must comply with criteria outlined in the program requirements and are audited annually. Since the AMS audits were developed using ISO 19001 Guides for Quality Management Systems audits, they are not“scored.” Instead, they identify nonconformances, which are classified as major and or minor.

The past year, the USDA Livestock, Poultry, and Seed Program’s Quality Assessment Division conducted annual audits in 8 of our 11 chicken live-production and harvesting operations for conformance to our USDA Process Verified Program Poultry Care. Each audit covers a minimum of 188 audit points in more than 50 areas. In 2022, we had two major nonconformances and 13 minor nonconformances with our PVP audits:

• Three Major:
  
  • 1 issue with how checker was making checks and how birds were being hung
  • 1 Records not accurately kept
  • 1 Live bird left in live haul module
• Twelve Minors:
  
  • 4 Ammonia above 25 PPM
  • 2 Paw failures
  • 1 Records documentation errors
  • 1 Chick holing room Temp failure, no corrective action paperwork
  • 1 Dumping chicks too high at placement
  • 1 need documentation of enrichments and outdoor access meeting requirements
  • 1 failed leg bruise check

Global Animal Partnership

Some of our customers require Global Animal Partnership (GAP) certification, which applies to the farms raising chickens for those products. GAP certified farms are audited every 15 months.

• During 2022, GAP audited 147 farms, all of which passed GAP certification. GAP identified 27 findings:
  
  • 6 stocking density issues
  • 5 missing 1 of total enrichments in a house
  • 4 range access due to High Path AI
  • 2 caked litter
  • 2 missed total shade requirement in range
  • 2 mortality greater than 5%
  • 1 foot pad score over limit
  • 1 lameness over limit
  • 1 harvest audit not complete
  • 1 air quality score
  • 1 chain of custody report not completed
  • 1 missing transportation logs

USDA Certified Organic

Every farm raising organic chickens for us is third party audited for meeting the requirements of the National Organic Program for USDA Certified Organic. Farms are inspected annually by third party organic certifiers.

• All 164 farms raising organic chickens passed their audit. The audits identified 36 nonconformances.
  
  • 16 – had improper record keeping
  • 9 – Had to much caking
  • 4 – had poor air quality
  • 2 – improper rodent control
  • 1 – too little shade
  • 1 – stocking density over limit
  • 1 – head count discrepancy
  • 1 – ranch maps were missing required information

Customer Welfare Audits

Our operations are regularly subject to audits by our customers to ensure adherence to their standards. We passed all customer audits.

Third-Party Video Monitoring

We use third-party video monitoring in live-bird handling areas of all 11 of our harvest facilities. This includes random reviews of video covering 11.9 million birds in 269,900 audit events during 2022. We achieved a compliance rate of 99.87 percent.