Nineteen individuals are on their way to becoming certified meat plant animal welfare auditors after successfully completing a two-day instruction course sponsored by the Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization (PAACO) and the American Meat Institute (AMI). The 19 trainees all passed an examination at the conclusion of the hands-on course, which was held at two Midwest pork and beef plants, according to Mike Simpson, PAACO executive director.
Participants have now earned provisional certification and will be granted full certification after successfully shadowing a foundation auditor in three meat plant welfare audits conducted per AMI guidelines. They will have one year in which to complete this phase.
The sold-out training course was the first held by PAACO and proved so popular that another will be offered in the fall. Attendees lauded the organization for the hands-on experience and opportunity to interact with other attendees and leading industry specialists who served as instructors.
"PAACO is extremely proud of the quality of this program that drew participants from retail, food service, packing/processing and the auditing industries. As an association, we are now moving from the organizational phase into more action-oriented activities," said PAACO President Angela Baysinger of Bruning, Neb.
PAACO is a collaboration of five professional organizations with extensive expertise on best management practices and current science in animal agriculture. PAACO’s purpose is to promote the humane treatment of animals through education and certification of animal auditors and to promote the profession of animal auditors. Founding and current organizations are the Federation of Animal Science Societies, American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists, American Association of Swine Veterinarians, American Association of Bovine Practitioners and American Association of Avian Pathologists.