AMANDA STEPHENSON

Certified Humane, the program that Earls restaurant chain adopted this week, is a U.S.-based certification program run by the non-profit group Humane Animal Care. In order to carry the Certified Humane label, a food product must meet certain criteria related to the life of the farm animal from birth through slaughter. These criteria include:

No cages, no crates, no tie stalls.

Animals must be free to do what comes naturally;

A diet of quality feed, without animal byproducts, antibiotics or growth hormones;

Producers must comply with food safety and environmental regulations.

Processors must comply with the American Meat Institute Standards, a slaughter standard written by animal welfare expert Temple Grandin.

The Certified Humane standards are set by a 36-member committee comprised of animal scientists and veterinarians. Producers participating in the Certified Humane program are audited annually by members of this committee to ensure they are meeting all the criteria.

Canada has no equivalent certification program, though that doesn’t mean there aren’t producers and processors north of the border already meeting these criteria on their own. Organic beef producers, for example, do not use growth hormones or antibiotics to raise their cattle.

Canadian producers who do use growth hormones or antibiotics must follow strict rules laid out by Health Canada. In addition, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency carries out random tests on food products to ensure hormone and antibiotic levels don’t exceed established limits.

Canada also has a National Farm Animal Care Council that lays out recommendations regarding the humane treatment and care of farm animals. It published a Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Beef Cattle in 2013.