New livestock transport regulations

New Canadian regulations for transporting livestock and poultry came into effect in February of this year. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the overhaul was needed to better align Canada with international standards, consumer expectations and changing technology.

“We hadn’t touched this [legislation] in a significant amount of time and we need our regulations keeping pace with the rest of the world,” says Aline Dimitri, executive director of animal health with CFIA. “Technologically, things have changed, we transport differently and consumer expectations are evolving.”

According to Dimitri, the agency’s experts were directed by about 400 scientific articles on the latest science and research into animal welfare when updating the regulations. CFIA last revised them in 1977.

Dimitri says they are now less prescriptive and more outcomes-based. In essence, that means what matters is a positive outcome for the welfare of animals during transport, with more flexibility to farmers, transporters and handlers in how to ensure that happens.

“We’re promoting predict, plant and prevent – when animals are being transported, we need to predict what might go wrong and have contingency plans ready to go, including where we might prevent problems from happening,” Dimitri says.

That includes knowledge for farmers and proper training for transporters around risk factors and animal condition, adequate space and headroom, weather protection, ventilation and when animals are unfit for transport.

Enforcement approach
What is still prescriptive, though, are the rules around maximum time without feed, water and rest for animals in transit. They’ve been tightened up, albeit it with a two-year period during which CFIA will focus on education rather than enforcement.

In cases of non-compliance, inspectors will first give a warning and provide information about the new standards. However, Dimitri stresses that the agency reserves the right to move straight to enforcement in cases where animal welfare is severely compromised, particularly if there is evidence of intent to harm.

“An inspector can choose to penalize and not just educate in extreme cases, but we have an enforcement approach that is graduated and starts with education,” she says. “If a situation is unexpected because something has happened on the road, that’s different than someone who intentionally harms animals.”

Poultry changes
For poultry producers, the maximum intervals without feed, water and rest have been set at 28 hours for feed and 24 hours for water. Previously, it was 36 hours from the time the first bird was loaded to when the last bird was unloaded.

The other big change is around the definition of transport time. Previously, it included only time spent in-transit. Now, the clock starts ticking on the 28-hour limit when either feed, water or rest is removed. Typically, feed removal will happen first, which is what starts the clock. It will keep going right until processing.

With birds taken off feed several hours before transport to ensure they meet food safety standards and are processed with empty stomachs, there is concern that the new regulations don’t leave a lot of time to deal with the unexpected enroute.

“It sounds like a lot of time, but when you consider the time from feed removal to when the last bird on the truck is processed, it really isn’t,” says Susan Fitzgerald, executive director of the Ontario Livestock Transporters’ Alliance.

However, she adds, CFIA has been working with the poultry sector around clarification for unforeseen events due to weather problems or traffic delays, for example. The agency has also assured the industry that these are not the types of situations that are targeted for enforcement. This, combined with the need for transporters and processors to have contingency plans in place for unforeseeable events, has helped address poultry industry concern.

Shared responsibility
Another big change is the idea of shared responsibility between farmers and transporters for the welfare of the animals during transport, which is a new provision.

Fitzgerald, who is also executive director of the Ontario Livestock and Poultry Council and the Poultry Service Association (PSA), says this means farmers are responsible for ensuring their birds are in fit condition to be loaded. What’s more, according to the CFIA guidance document, they’re also responsible for the actions of catching crews on their farms with respect to welfare.

“A limitation of CFIA before was they couldn’t go back onto the farm – it was limited to the actual transport event,” she explains. “Now, if an issue can be traced back to the farm level of putting a compromised or unfit bird on the truck, the producer can be charged if they are responsible. They aren’t exempt any more.”

Training requirement
The new regulations also state that commercial transport companies must train staff in animal welfare and have it documented. PSA began offering poultry handling and transportation training in 2015 in Ontario, and subsequently rolled it into a national initiative in partnership with the Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council.

Training is available in English, French, Spanish and Thai and covers the entire life cycle of the bird – from hatchery through to live receiving at a processing facility.

Fitzgerald worked with Al Dam, poultry specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), and Penny Lawlis, who was OMAFRA’s animal welfare specialist at the time, to develop the training. Dam and Lawlis already had training materials for different catching courses, and there was an existing poultry handling and transportation course in Pennsylvania that served as the basis for Ontario’s program.

“This program isn’t focused on transport regulations – it’s about good handling practices and welfare generally,” Fitzgerald says.

Across the country to date, 1,231 people have taken the voluntary training, including 856 in Ontario, 251 in Quebec, 89 in New Brunswick and 33 in Nova Scotia.

“We have resources on the CFIA website, and we also invite farmers to talk to their veterinarians; they’re an important resource around animal welfare,” notes Dimitri, adding most questions to CFIA are about changes to feed, water and rest intervals.

Transport regulation changes at a glance
What’s changed:

• Producers now share accountability for welfare.
• Feed, water and rest times start when feed and water are first removed.
• The maximum time without feed is 28 hours.
• The maximum time without water is 24 hours.
• There’s a two-year adjustment period before enforcement.

Reasons for change:

• The previous regulations date back to 1977 and, thus, were overdue to be modernized.
• There was strong public pressure to implement regulatory changes.
• International standards around humane livestock transport have changed.
• There’s a lot of innovation and new technology in the area.