Animal welfare auditing has become as commonplace in slaughter establishments as HACCP monitoring practices. In larger facilities, humane handling audits are conducted multiple times per day on every production day. The overall improvement in animal welfare and the focus on innovation in livestock handling practices have been well-documented. Those who have paid attention over the past 15 years can easily describe the cultural shift that has occurred. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who wouldn’t call this a good thing.
Other sectors of livestock production have implemented farm-level auditing programs as the need to demonstrate animals are appropriately cared for has become increasingly necessary. At the same time, egregious and willful acts of abuse have still been uncovered, sometimes in the public eye.