Better Care

Maple Leaf Foods has strong values that deeply define our culture and how we operate. These values have a very direct relationship to how we treat animals we raise or source. Better care for our animals is one of our four sustainability priorities and reflects our goal to be a leader in animal care.

Maple Leaf Foods has strong values that define our culture and have a direct relationship on how we treat the animals we raise or source.

As the largest value-added meat protein company in Canada, we must be a leader in animal care. Animal welfare is an integral part of our culture and business. Our commitment to animal care focuses on progress in all of these areas:

Minimize or eliminate the use of antibiotics in animal care
Transition sows from confining gestation crates to open housing
Build a world-class animal care program that will be the foundation of a strong animal care culture

We are committed to enhancing our animal wellness practices in a manner that advances the Five Freedoms – the most widely accepted global standard for responsible animal care.

The Five Freedoms

Freedom from hunger or thirst by providing ready access to fresh water and a diet that maintains good health and vigour
Freedom from discomfort by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area
Freedom from pain, injury or disease through prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment
Freedom to express normal behaviours by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind
Freedom from fear and distress by providing conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering

Our commitment to animal care

2017 Sustainability Report

Learn more about our plans and initiatives to address critical areas of animal care.

Our goals and performance

2017 Priorities	Our Performance	2018⁺ Priorities
Continue to transition all Maple Leaf sows to enhanced open housing by the end of 2021.	Completed our conversion of 33,000 sows to enhanced open housing. We are on track to complete 65,000 by end of 2021	Transition all Maple Leaf Foods sows to enhanced open housing by the end of 2021. Complete RVA implementation in all existing live processing facilities by end the of 2019. Build a strong culture of animal care across our facilities by implementing an Employee Advisory Policy and Golden Rules. Strengthen our relationships that advance industry practices by hosting regular meetings of MLF poultry producer council and contracted pork producers. Provide enrichment and toys, to all nursery and growing pigs and poultry barns by the end of 2018. Pilot anesthesia for piglet castration / orchiectomy end of 2018. Complete conversion of all hydraulic-lift pig trailers within Maple Leaf Foods by end of 2019. Start construction of Controlled Atmosphere Stunning (CAS) in one poultry plant by Q1 2019. Complete Animal Care Foundational Training for all MLF employees who effect the lives of animals by end of 2018. Deliver Poultry Euthanasia training to all Fresh Poultry Plants. Design and deliver pork training modules to our Fresh Pork Plants by August 2019.
Launch Remote Video Auditing (RVA) at one more facility and conduct pre-implementation planning at one to two more.	We completed RVA launch at Lethbridge facility in March 2017. We conducted a trial of new technology for poultry catching crews and profiled our Alberta hatchery and Edmonton Poultry plants.
Initiate independent review of our operations against our goals and commitments.	We have on going daily, weekly, and annual third party independent review of our farms, hatcheries, and live animal operations at our plants. We did not initiate a formal review against our goals and commitments but we will consider in future years.
Develop Key Performance Indicators to standardize and enhance internal and external reporting.	We developed dashboard reporting on progress of various Animal Care projects and initiatives for all our operations. We will also continue the enhancement of internal audit processes across our facilities.
Pilot initiatives to promote play and reduce boredom in sow and hog barns in 2017.	We continued to pilot and implement enrichment to all MLF barns with Nursery & Finisher barn trials underway. Sow barn trials still on going.
Pilot enrichment in Maple Leaf breeder barn and engage an independent producer in enrichment pilots.	We engaged an independent producer council on enrichment in poultry barns. We have no current plans in 2018 to pilot enrichment in breeder barns.
Implement our poultry transportation strategy.	We initiated new projects for new on farm resources and digital transportation monitoring. A formal program is in place with reduced in-transit risks to welfare.
Planning Poultry CAS (controlled atmosphere stunning).	We have incorporated CAS and modular loading in our capital planning process.
Develop a Maple Leaf Technical Manual to further describe our Animal Care Program.	We developed a Technical Manual for internal MLF use. It is used to foster discussion with our customers.
Develop and implement two additional modules of animal care training in 2017.	Poultry Plant Euthanasia & Handling launched summer 2017. Our Animal Care 101 training module has been developed, and will be delivered in 2018.
Achieved Partially Achieved On Track Deferred

Raised without antibiotics

Our society is becoming increasingly concerned about the use of antibiotics in animal production. Maple Leaf Foods is committed to minimize or eliminate the use of antibiotics wherever possible, while maintaining high-standards of animal care.

We are transitioning our Maple Leaf Prime brand to 100% Raised Without Antibiotics, the fastest growing category of value-added poultry.

Should any animal herd or flock that is in our “Raised Without Antibiotics” (RWA) program become sick, all treatment options are considered in consultation with a veterinarian, including administering an antibiotic. If an antibiotic is administered, the treated animal, herd or flock is removed from the program. We are actively implementing operating protocols that reduce higher-mortality rates in animals raised without antibiotics, which is one of our animal care priorities.

Raising animals without antibiotics

Our Advanced Open Sow Housing system

While all pigs that are raised for meat are housed in open pens, industry practice has been to confine sows (mother pigs) in gestation crates. Most conventional sow housing systems continue to house sows an average of 42 days in stalls during early pregnancy. At Maple Leaf Foods, we challenged ourselves to do better.

In our Advanced Open Sow Housing system, pregnant sows live 100 per cent of the time in open pens, where they are free to move, feed and socialize with other animals.

We are on track to transition all our sows to advanced open housing by end of 2021.

This system has taken us close to 10 years of research and design. In 2008, we were the first large-scale pork producer in Canada to commit to transitioning to open housing for sows.

To date, we have transitioned approximately 40,000 sows (over 50 per cent) to our Advanced Open Sow Housing system. We have also developed an accelerated plan that will result in all sows under our management being moved to our advanced open housing system by the end of 2021.

Our Advanced Open Sow Housing system

Time lapse: Watch our sow-housing transition

Our journey towards better care

In our journey towards Better Care, we have significantly enhanced governance, investment and operational focus to build a world-class animal care program. Our veterinarians oversee animal care along with dedicated Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) staff at each of our processing plants.

We also believe that education and training is the foundation to knowledge, empowerment, accountability and a strong animal care culture. All employees who handle animals receive animal care training when they commence employment, and this is reviewed annually.

In 2017, we invested more resources to enhance our programs, including a variety of web-based, classroom and applied learning tools.

Within our operations at Maple Leaf Foods, we adhere to a number of standards, including:

National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC) Codes of Practice
American Meat Institute (AMI) Animal Handling Guidelines
Canadian Quality Assurance and Animal Care Assessment Program
Canadian Hatching Egg Producers CHEQ™ Program
Chicken Farmers of Ontario Farm Worker Safety Program

Explore a sow barn in 360°

Explore a poultry barn in 360°

Download Our 2017 Sustainability Report to Find Out More