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 12 of our poultry live production and harvesting operations, including hatchery, grow out (farms), catching and transportation, and processing. The audit covers 73 audit points, scored on a scale of one to five, for a maximum possible score of 365 points. Operations are rated on a percentage basis.

We received scores between 97.65% and 100% for all locations audited.

• We had 0 major nonconformances.

We had 15 minor nonconformances:

• 1 Failed broken wing check
• 1 Failed paw check
• No action for culls above 2%
• 2 Failed mechanical slitter check
• 2 Failed density target
• 3 Failed Gait score check
• 1 Observed nails protruding that could injury birds
• 2 Holes in wall that could allow outside access
• 1 Wrong lighting program being run
• 1 Failed bruise check

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 2023, we had seven major nonconformances and 11 minor nonconformances with our PVP audits:

Seven Majors:

• 2 Issues with free range procedures on a farm
• 1 Trainer for new hire not completed on time
• 1 Failed damaged cage check on trailers
• 1 Ammonia above 25 ppm during farm visit
• 1 Failed live haul check with bird unfit for travel
• 1 Failed live haul check on loading modules

11 Minors:

• 1 Records documentation errors
• 3 Failed leg bruise check
• 2 Failed automatic knife check
• 1 Failed stunner check
• 2 Failed broken wing check
• 1 No corrective action documented on a chick injury report
• 1 Inadequate

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 2023, GAP audited 162 farms, all of which passed GAP certification. GAP identified 66 findings:
  
  • 13 Stocking density issues
  • 15 Not meeting 1% natural light
  • 1 Access to water no more than 1 hour before catch
  • 11 Missing soiled feather document
  • 12 Hatchery chick deliver documentation missing time
  • 4 Request for information
  • 2 Missing information on the transport tickets
  • 1 Merieux certificate had expired prior to audit
  • 1 Missing 1 foot pad document
  • 3 Ammonia exceeding 20ppm
  • 2 Litter caking
  • 1 DOA exceeding 0.5%

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 156 farms raising organic chickens passed their audit. The audits identified 17 nonconformances.
  
  • 4 Had improper record keeping
  • 3 Had too much caking
  • 3 Outdoor access records not complete
  • 2 Rodent control log
  • 2 Outdoor ramps too steep
  • 1 Chlorine ppm not recorded
  • 1 Complete name of shaving supplier not listed
  • 1 New form missing data, went back to old form

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 10.1 million birds in 254,000 audit events during 2022. We achieved a compliance rate of 99.92 percent.