Animal Care
More than 2,300 audits were conducted to ensure our standards are being met.
2021 Spirit Of Excellence
As part of our 20 By 30 Challenge, we are committed to maintaining high standards for animal care and handling throughout our supply chain.
We have a commitment to unwavering animal welfare standards — not because someone is watching, but because it is the right thing to do.
We conduct assessments and audits to verify that our animal welfare requirements are being met. In addition, we have several animal welfare committees in place to ensure accountability to our standards.
Animal Stewardship Policy
Hormel Foods is dedicated to doing everything the right way. That includes our animal stewardship practices.
To maintain our standards, we have developed the following principles to guide our animal care and handling procedures:
- All farms will provide a balanced and nutritious diet and water.
- A safe and humane environment will be furnished for every animal throughout its life, including minimizing stress, managing social needs and controlling environmental conditions.
- Every facility will be properly maintained with the animals’ well-being in mind, including appropriate facilities and space, and the utilization of compassionate, stress-minimizing techniques during handling.
- Animals will be provided appropriate preventive and, if necessary, medical care, including veterinary oversight and the prompt treatment of sick animals. When medically necessary, we use antibiotics responsibly.
- We will follow clearly documented humane procedures in the event an animal needs to be euthanized.
We have developed industry-leading standards in conjunction with animal care experts, including renowned authorities on humane animal husbandry. These veterinarians and animal behavior experts help us to create a blueprint that ensures every animal is raised in a healthy environment and treated with care, respect and compassion throughout its life. Our network of family farm suppliers understands and shares these values.
Hormel Foods has a zero-tolerance policy toward the mistreatment of animals. We have strict requirements related to animal care, overseen by veterinarians, third-party experts and a team of animal welfare professionals at Hormel Foods.
In addition to these principles, we have additional requirements for hogs and turkeys. Our Applegate subsidiary has additional animal care requirements as well. Applegate works with third-party certifiers such as Global Animal Partnership® and Certified Humane® to ensure animals are raised and handled in ways that honor the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare. Applegate requires all its suppliers to meet third-party certified animal welfare standards. For more information about our animal care and antibiotic stewardship efforts, please visit our corporate website.
Hogs
All of our hog producers participate in the Hormel Foods Quality Assurance Program. This program prescribes the proper way to transport and treat animals on their farms. In addition, all farms are subject to third-party audits.
Our annual Spirit of Excellence Awards recognize hog producers that exemplify our commitment to quality at Hormel Foods. In 2021, we recognized two suppliers in the provisions category and 10 suppliers in the procurement category.
Quality assurance and operations personnel perform daily internal audits in our processing facilities to maintain our high standards. In 2021, 51 external audits were performed by outside auditors in our processing facilities. Internally, we participated in 1,088 formal audits, and 17 audits were conducted by company management at our processing facilities on an unannounced, random basis.
In 2021, we did not have any notices of intended enforcement from the Food Safety and Inspection Service as a result of material noncompliance with laws and regulations related to our transportation, handling and slaughtering practices.
For additional information about our quality assurance requirements related to hogs, including information about California Proposition 12 and Massachusetts Question 3 compliance, please visit our corporate website.
Turkeys
Jennie-O Turkey Store follows the animal welfare guidelines of the National Turkey Federation as the auditing criteria for our hatcheries, farms and processing plants. We are proud to consistently score in the highest category.
In 2021, 854 internal audits were conducted by the Jennie-O Turkey Store live production quality assurance department, and 284 production National Turkey Federation audits were performed by managers and supervisors of live production. In addition, seven audits were conducted by external auditors at our live production facilities.
Daily internal audits at Jennie-O Turkey Store processing facilities conducted by quality assurance and operations personnel help maintain our high standards. Jennie-O Turkey Store participated in seven internal formal audits, and 70 audits were conducted by company managers at processing facilities on an unannounced, random basis. Four additional audits were also performed by outside auditors in our processing facilities.
In 2021, we did not have any notices of intended enforcement from the Food Safety and Inspection Service as a result of material noncompliance with laws and regulations related to our transportation, handling and slaughtering practices.