You’ve probably seen the news stories about a recent series of massive Chicken recalls in the U.S., not the least of them involving multiple incidents centred on Perdue Farms products. That’s made some Chicken lovers skeptical about Chicken farming and processing standards and practices…
KFC celebrated Canadians’ love affair with its products back in 2017 with a line
of merchandise including a cutesy pillow case… Now they’re one of
the first to embrace the new Chicken Farmers of Canada
quality assurance labelling program.
Not only that, but animal rights organizations everywhere have been crying ‘foul’ for at least a couple of decades about the conditions under which Chickens are raised commercially. They say the mega-culturing of Chickens in overcrowded, overheated, unhealthy, stressful circumstances isn’t good for anybody, least of all, the birds. I’ve often wondered whether less-stressed Chickens would be more tender and flavourful than the ones we get now. Chicken aficionados insist that free-range birds allowed to run around outdoors for at least part of each day are definitely more delicious than factory farm Chickens. But they’re comparatively expensive and hard to find.
Genesis of the new assurance seal
The ‘Raised By A Canadian Farmer’ seal on Chicken products at the supermarket, on restaurant menus and at Fast Food joints is meant to assure consumers that the Chicken they are about to commit to conforms to a set of standards developed by The Chicken Farmers of Canada covering animal care, on-farm food safety, facility cleanliness and sustainability. The group’s website defines the standards thus:
- Our farmers adhere to a strict mandatory On-Farm Food Safety Program, a national standard that has received federal, provincial and territorial government recognition and full recognition by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
- They also adhere to a strict, mandatory and auditable Animal Care Program to ensure high animal care standards are being upheld on Canadian chicken farms across Canada. It is also third-party audited by NSF International, an internationally-recognized, third-party certification body, accredited by the American National Standards Institute, to ISO 17065.
- Farmers are also committed to sustainability through innovation, by preserving the health of the land, providing value to Canada’s economy, and making affordable food for Canadians.
The new promo program follows the recommendations of the 2016 Chicken Farmers of Canada Sustainability Report, for which Canadian consumers were asked how much they trust Chicken producers and processors. A whopping 80 percent of those polled said they trust our Chicken Farmers. Almost as many (77 percent) said they would trust Chicken bearing a quality assurance seal that came directly from the farmers who raised the birds, as opposed to one that was applied by supermarkets or end-users such as restaurants.
KFC is on the bandwagon
One of the first end users to adopt the new assurance seal program is KFC Canada. Arguably the nation’s single largest buyer of Chicken parts after the supermarket retail network, KFC is synonymous with Chicken, and has always touted its products’ quality and wholesomeness. It just males sense that the company would want to associate itself with the program. And I’m sure The Chicken Farmers of Canada are also glad to have such as high-profile partner as KFC onboard with the program. It’s a win-win-win deal.
My take
It’s probably a good idea to differentiate Canadian-raised Chicken from U.S.-origin Chicken considering the spate of recalls south of the border. I approve of any effort to make our food supply cleaner, cheaper and more sustainable, as well as supporting Canadian farmers. The assurance labelling program is especially good news as Canadians and consumers across the developed world gradually move toward Chicken and away from more expensive, less sustainable Protein sources such as Beef. Perhaps such programs will help ease the pain as we move away from Animal Proteins altogether over the next 30 years or so, in favour of much more efficient, cheaper Vegetable Protein alternatives. I suspect that Chicken will be one of the last Animal Proteins to be phased out…
~ Maggie J.