Animal Care

Canadian Pork on-farm food safety and animal care has been governed by the Canadian Quality Assurance® (CQA) program and the Animal Care Assessment™ (ACA) respectively. 

In January 2018, the Canadian Pork Council (CPC) introduced a new on-farm programs platform, named Canadian Pork Excellence (CPE). The CPE platform presents the same proven content that has garnered respect and benefited the Canadian Pork industry in gaining market access internationally and domestically. 

The Canadian Pork Excellence platform includes a Food Safety, Animal Care and Traceability programs. The Animal Care Assessment (ACA) program was launched in 2005 to demonstrate how producers take great pride in caring for their pigs and treat them with respect at all times. The Animal Care Program will be revised to reflect the 2014 Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs requirements. 

The revised ACA program, named PigCARE Canada, is also an auditable program that examines the environment, comfort, nutrition, health and housing of pigs to ensure the highest standards of animal care are maintained, and demonstrates to the value chain how producers care for their animals.