Thank you, Ms. Kelly. I'm still unclear on a number of things. I  hope you can answer a few further questions. 

Where you write: 

"Inspections under the Animal Care Program are conducted along with  administration of the national on-farm food safety program. CEMA's  HACCP based quality program has achieved technical accreditation  from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency." 

Are you saying that the Animal Care Program is CFIA-accredited? 

Also, are you saying that the third-party inspectors you refer to  elsewhere simultaneously - i.e. on the same visit - do the on-farm  food safety and the Animal Care Program inspection? 

Finally, who are these inspectors? Who do they work for in their  third-party capacity? 

You also write: 

"'Passing' means just that. The Program is subject to ongoing review  and will continue to evolve. Similar to implementation of the  national on-farm food safety program I expect the 'bar' will  continue to be raised to encourage excellence in animal care." 

I'm still unclear what "passing" means. If all producers are  passing, why would the bar need to be raised? Does passing mean a  perfect score on all the Code-based criteria, a "satisfactory"  score, something else? Please be as specific as you can so I can  represent your program accurately to my readers. 

Would the registered barn secretly videotaped near Guelph last  summer - LEL Farms - have passed? (See  http://humanefood.ca/eggindustry.html.) If not, what would have  given it a failing grade? 

For example, if I'm an egg producer in your program and the  inspector finds many hens with badly worn off plumage (like the ones  in the video), do I fail? 

If hens with worn off plumage have skin blisters, do I fail? 

If hens have foot lesions or claw deformities from the cage floor,  do I fail? 

If more than a certain percentage of the hens are found to be dead,  do I fail? 

If excrement is falling on hens, do I fail? 

Thank you, 
Syd Baumel 

Where to buy kinder eggs in Manitoba
(to find sources elsewhere, visit eatkind.net)

The Aquarian's Ethical Food Market

EGG-FREE
recipes & products

Compassion Over Killing (USA)

Vegan Society (UK)

Learn More

The Truth About Canada's Egg Industry (Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals)

Chickenout.ca (Vancouver Humane Society)

Canadian Agri-Food Research Council's Recommended Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pullets, Layers and Spent Fowl

> BEYOND CANADA

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:"Wegmans Cruelty": an undercover investigation of the immense egg barn of a leading American grocery chain is the basis of an outstanding 27-minute documentary that lays bare the secrets of the battery egg industry (streaming video or download) 

Behind the Label: "Animal Care Certified" (by Peter Singer and Jim Mason) 

Battery Hens (United Poultry Concerns, USA)

Eggindustry.com (Compassion Over Killing, USA)

No Battery Eggs (Humane Society of the United States)

Egg-laying Hens (Compassion in World Farming, UK)