Humane Labels

humane hu·​mane | \ hyü-ˈmān, yü- \ (adjective): marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals

Oftentimes, humane label requirements are loosely defined and ill-regulated. Euphemisms are commonly used to embellish cruel practices. For example, Certified Humane does not allow identification methods such as ear-notching (cutting portions of a pig’s ear off) but does allow slap marking, which is when they press a spiked metal plate with ink into a pig’s skin, without any anesthesia.

Many animals raised on allegedly “humane” farms suffer from similar cruelties as animals raised on conventional farms. An investigation of a Whole Food’s meat supplier with purported “humanely-raised” pigs showed pigs kept in filthy, overcrowded pens, many left with untreated fevers and anal prolapses, and slaughtered at conventional slaughterhouses.

Cage-free is not synonymous with cruelty-free. For instance, cage-free producers typically purchase hens from hatcheries, where male chickens are considered useless and killed at birth because they will not lay eggs and will not grow as large as chickens bred for meat. Hatcheries kill 260 million male chicks each year in the United States.

While cage-free chickens are no longer stuffed into battery cages, they are generally packed into large sheds or warehouses with little space to move or perform natural behaviors, like dust-bathing. The United Egg Producers only require farms to have 1-1.5 square feet per hen in cage-free facilities.

Many cage-free chickens will also be debeaked or beak trimmed. This is a painful process where hot blades slice off the tip of their beak, a highly sensitive organ.

Also like caged hens, “cage-free” layers are kept only for a few years, until their productivity begins to decline. Then they are typically shipped to industrial slaughterhouses. Since poultry animals are excluded from the federal Humane Slaughter Act, packing plants are not required to render these animals unconscious before slaughter.

Because of loose definitions of cage-free, consumers can never be sure what conditions an animal was raised in. For example, Trader Joe’s, a California-based grocery store, was sued for mislabeling cage-free eggs with images of chickens roaming on grassy fields. In reality, the hens raised on these farms were kept indoors with thousands of other birds and no access to the beautiful fields shown on the egg cartons.

The USDA’s definition of free-range states that “producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.” There are no requirements of how much time they must spend outdoors or how much space they can access. “Free-range” farms can raise birds in sheds with a small door at the end of it that a chicken would have to wade through thousands of birds to get to. The door could be open for only a few minutes each day and the facility would still be considered “free-range.” Pasture-raised, pasture-grown, and free-roaming are similarly meaningless terms which remain vague and undefined by the USDA.

The term “grass-fed” elicits an incredibly misleading image. The grass-fed certification only requires producers to submit information about an animal’s diet and access to pasture, not their emotional or physical condition. Grass-fed cows may still receive antibiotics and hormones and can suffer from debilitating health problems, such as hoof lesions and mastitis.

Organic dairy may be free of antibiotics and hormones, but it is not free of cruelty. Because cows produce milk only when pregnant or nursing, all dairy farms subject their cows to a relentless cycle of impregnation and birth. Their babies are taken away immediately so that the milk can be collected for human use. Male calves, since they are of no use to the dairy industry, are sold for beef or veal. When a cow’s milk production declines at an average of fewer than five years, she too is slaughtered for meat.

Investigations have shown that some organic milk producers keep cows confined indoors much of the time. Because the requirements for the “organic” label prohibit the use of many medicines, producers frequently allow cows to languish with ailments that otherwise could easily be treated.