HFAC Celebrates Ten Years as Leading Farm Animal Welfare Organization

HERNDON, Va., Feb. 21, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On February 20, 2003, Humane Farm Animal Care was founded to improve the lives of farm animals in food production, and today, HFAC is proud to celebrate ten years of major accomplishments in this field.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121206/MM25209-b)

HFAC's founder, Adele Douglass, had a background in legislation and public policy, and realized through her work in Congress that if she wanted to see change in her lifetime in the way farm animals were raised in the US, the fastest way would be through a market solution. "In 1998, I observed a farm animal program in the UK called Freedom Foods, based on farm animal welfare standards written by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA)," says Douglass. "I was so impressed, but understood a different approach was needed for the US market, so I created the Certified Humane® program."

In 2003, the first year of operation for the program, Echo Farm Puddings, Touchstone Farms, duBreton Pork, Prather Ranch, Meyer Natural Angus, and Pete & Gerry's Organic Eggs became the first companies to be certified, and remain on the program to this day. That first year, there were 143,000 animals certified.  At the end of 2012, there were 76.8 million animals raised under our standards.  "We are incredibly proud of how far we've come," said Douglass. "Our goal for the end of 2014 is to have 1% of the farm animals in the US raised under our standards. We are 23.2 million animals short of that goal, but it is within reach."

Everyone at HFAC would like to extend their gratitude to all the volunteers, donors, scientific committee, inspectors, farmers, consumers and previous board and staff who have made this program so successful. Said Douglass, "We look forward to the next ten years of phenomenal growth and continued support."

For more information on where to find Certified Humane® products, visit HFAC's "Where to Buy" page at http://www.certifiedhumane.org/index.php?page=where-to-buy or download the Certified Humane App. To download the App, go to the App Store for iPhone or Google Play for Android and search for Certified Humane. You can also access the mobile "Where to Buy" page by going to www.certifiedhumane.org from your smart phone.  For additional information, visit HFAC's website: www.certifiedhumane.org.

SOURCE Humane Farm Animal Care