We Care
Pork producers understand that providing a safe, wholesome food supply for consumers is a great responsibility. We believe that each and every one of us must demonstrate our commitment to ethical animal agriculture and respect for the communities in which we live. Accordingly, we all have an obligation to affirm our commitment to:
- Produce safe food
- Protect and promote animal well-being
- Ensure practices to protect public health
- Safeguard natural resources
- Provide a safe work environment
- Contribute to a better quality of life in our communities
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Pork Quality Assurance Plus
Originally introduced in 1989, Pork Quality Assurance®, has become the industry’s leading education and certification program focused on food safety and animal care. The program has been enhanced numerous times since its introduction and is now known as PQA Plus. Enhancements to PQA Plus incorporate new scientific knowledge, the latest research and new components, including an on-farm site assessment of animal care practices.
The practices and principles promoted through PQA Plus were developed in collaboration with food safety experts, veterinarians and scientists and go beyond what current regulation requires of on-farm food safety practices.
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10 Good Production Practices
The PQA program’s 10 Good Production Practices serve as guidelines for safe and responsible use of animal health products and for continually and objectively evaluating and, when necessary, improving animal care.
- Establish and implement an efficient and effective herd health management plan.
- Use a veterinarian/client/patient relationship (VCPR) as the basis for medication decision-making.
- Use antibiotics responsibly.
- Identify and track all treated animals.
- Maintain medication and treatment record.
- Properly store, label, and account for all drug products and medicated feeds.
- Educate all animal caretakers on proper administration techniques, needle-use procedures, observance of withdrawal times, and methods to avoid marketing adulterated products for human food.
- Follow appropriate on-farm feed processing and commercial feed processor procedures.
- Develop, implement, and document an animal caretaker training program.
- Provide proper care to improve swine well-being.
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Transport Quality Assurance
Transport Quality Assurance (TQA) is a program that helps ensure transporters and producers understand the proper ways to handle, move and transport pigs, and the potential impacts of those actions on pig well-being and pork quality. Anyone who handles or transports pigs or sets protocols for handling pigs is a potential influencer of animal well-being and pork quality. Those completing all the necessary education and training receive program certification.
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