Certifications don’t mean much

The report analyzes several of the most popular labels. It calls out certifications produced explicitly by trade groups—including UEP Certified, created by United Egg Producers, and Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM), created by the National Milk Producers Federation—identifying them as pure marketing tools that codify standard industry practices. It also details challenges with third-party certifications.

Across the spectrum of certifications, the report points to the fact that none completely eliminate several practices consumers may find inhumane—breeding fast-growing animals in a way that often impacts their health, immediately separating dairy calves from their mothers, and culling male chicks in the egg industry. (United Egg Producers pledged to eliminate the latter practice in U.S. egg production by 2020, but has so far failed to do so.)

Not even Animal Welfare Approved, run by the independent nonprofit A Greener World, addresses those issues

https://civileats.com/2021/01/19/are-some-animal-welfare-labels-humanewashing/

Bringing up a Tyson competitor, the farm manager wonders how other poultry companies handle supposedly free-range-raised chickens. The short answer: They don’t, really.

“Those birds don’t go outside — you know that,” the technician replies. “They don’t all go out … Look that up online.”

The manager chimes in: “It’s not like they make it like all of ’em come out and enjoy the sun.”

“That is strictly for commercial [advertising] purposes,” the technician says.

In 2017, the Intercept reported an investigation into a dozen California farms owned by a free-range chicken company that found no evidence of any animals spending any time outdoors. The chief animal care officer for Perdue Farms, a major chicken producer, has even said the vast majority of its free-range chickens stay indoors.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23724740/tyson-chicken-free-range-humanewashing-investigation-animal-cruelty