May 19, 2023

 

USDA mulls Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards

 

 

 

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is considering the proposed Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards to clarify and ensure consistent application of the USDA organic standards.

 

Animal welfare groups argued that the updates have the potential to improve living conditions of the more than 186 million farm animals raised annually under the USDA's National Organic Program. The new standards, ruled on by 57 US representatives and 20 senators, will restrict and define livestock health practices. These include prohibiting the debeaking and desnooding of birds and tail docking of cattle.

 

The rules will also require perches for egg-laying hens and ban gestation crates for pregnant swine to improve living conditions in indoor and outdoor spaces. Shelters will also need to provide sufficient room for ruminants, swine and birds to lie down, stand up and fully stretch their limbs and wings.

 

Gillian Lyons, director of regulatory affairs at the Humane Society Legislative Fund, told Food Tank: "If finalised, the changes proposed in the Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards rule will improve the lives of millions of animals raised in the organic programme."

 

According to Lyons, these proposed changes have the potential to improve the living conditions and overall health of animals raised under the programme. Additionally, the steps this rule takes to establish animal welfare standards will positively impact public health by improving food safety but also by preventing potential epidemics and pandemics, Lyons explained.

 

"By favoring free-range over high-density cage farming, the rule will reduce the risk of transmission and proliferation of disease (like avian influenza)," Lyons said.

 

The rule's animal welfare standard improvements will reduce stress in animals, improving their immune systems and reducing the risk of disease and in turn, transmission to humans, she added.  

 

The proposed Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards represent the first updates to organic animal livestock guidelines since 2017. At the time, animal advocacy groups called the reform "modest" and the updates served to reflect standards already adopted by many organic producers in the country.

 

The 2017 changes outlined were indoor and outdoor poultry stocking limits, requirements to provide outdoor access and a ban on several physical alteration practices that were still commonly used. The new additions to the Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards will strengthen animal care and improve living conditions, more so than the previous rule.

 

If the new standards go into effect, the USDA plans to grant organic farmers up to 15 years to finance and build sufficient infrastructure to comply with the new regulations.

- Food Tank