ve animal industry organizations with extensive expertise on best
management practices and current science in animal agriculture. The
organization’s purpose is to promote the humane treatment of animals
through education and certication of animal auditors and to promote
the profession of animal auditors. Founding and current organizations
are the Federation of Animal Science Societies (FASS), American
Registry of Professional Animal Scientists (ARPAS), American
Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV), American Association
of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) and American Association of Avian
Pathologists (AAAP). Website: www.animalauditor.org. PAACO does
not create audits nor determine protocols within animal agriculture.
Its role is to work with the species organization to train and certify
auditors to the industry determined standards.
PAACO, Inc. Background
Successful livestock, dairy and poultry producers and their related
industry partners provide sound animal care on commercial farms and
harvest plants. Most animal and meat producer organizations have
guidelines that are consistent with sound science and a consideration
of economic realities. The process by which auditors are qualied,
trained and certied continues to be developed by PAACO. Many
groups require auditors and audit rms to have specic qualications,
experience and abilities. FASS, ARPAS, AABP, AAAP and AASV
are professional, independent, science-based groups that have come
together to initiate training and certication for on-farm and harvest
plant auditors. PAACO has anticipated the need to evaluate, train and
qualify candidates that want to pursue animal auditing as a career.
Animal welfare is only the rst of many aspects of livestock production
to be audited at the farm level. It is in agricultures best interest to
verify the qualications of the potential auditors.
Key Words: PAACO, Audit, Welfare
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