What is “double standard certification” or “dual production certification,” and why does Animal Welfare Approved strongly oppose it?
The Animal Welfare Approved seal is the only animal welfare program in the market place that guarantees its humanely labeled products do not come from agribusinesses that offer some of their animal products under a “humane label,” while raising the majority of their animals using cruel industrial practices. Certifying as humane agricultural operations that engage in dual production permits animal factories to have their cake and eat it, too, and enables them to exploit high welfare markets with a relatively small percentage of their animals, while continuing to house millions of animals (billions in the case of poultry) in deplorable conditions. Dual production businesses can offset the higher costs of raising animals under high welfare conditions with the profits they make in their low-welfare systems, giving them the power to underbid independent family farmers who compete for the same markets but choose to incur the additional costs of caring for all of their animals humanely.
