Critical control points for on-farm assessment of pig housing

Abstract

Animal and environmental care, health, product safety and consumer acceptance are factors that are becoming increasingly important for the assessment of pig housing. It can be foreseen that housing conditions will undergo a documentation and certification process as part of a quality assurance scheme according to international standards [ ISO-9000 Series, Quality Management and Quality Assurance Standards, 1994]. As already implemented for the food processing industry, critical control points (CCP, based on the Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Point concept) have to be defined in order to objectively assess animal housing based on sound scientific data. The German working group “Animal Husbandry and Animal Welfare” of the German Society of Animal Production (DGFZ) has proposed a concept for the “Assessment of Animal Housing and Management according to Welfare and Environmental Criteria”. Based on this concept, CCP and critical management points (CMP) have been developed for the categories health, behaviour, management and environmental impact. These criteria are intended to be used primarily by the farmer as an internal on farm assessment scheme. In the long run this concept of housing assessment through critical control and management points, measurable parameters and tolerance limits can be further developed and utilised by government agencies, consumer organisations and commodity groups that have an interest to evaluate, monitor and licence housing systems.