The Ambassador Program

As for the labelling of chicken, you mention a few above that are not as easy to define as you might think.

Organic chicken is a small, but important niche in our industry. We have regulated organic growers in several provinces, about 2% of our members. Basically, organic feeds are the same as regular feeds except that:

• At least 80% of all the feed ingredients must come from organic sources (i.e., products from farms that meet organic farming standards set by the Canadian General Standards Board, a government agency, and meet the requirements of a reputable certification body).
• All organic feed ingredients, such as vitamins, that are not of 100% natural origin, must be approved by a certification body.

Canada does not permit chicken to be labelled “hormone-free” as there are no hormones permitted in any chicken feed anyway. In Canada, the use of hormones in chicken feed has been banned since the 1960s.

Free range farming is still only a small part of our industry here. Canada’s climate in 3 of the 4 seasons is not very receptive to raising birds outdoors (too hot or too cold). Having said that, there are a number of regulated farms that use this type of rearing during the growout period but it’s not a very sustainable way to supply Canada’s 1 billion kg chicken marketplace. CFC has adapted a version of the on-farm food safety program manual with variations and specifications that apply to free range producers.

Grain fed is the hardest to prove and the easiest label to use. In Canada, the main ingredient of all chicken feed (88%) is grains and grain by-products, protein-producing seeds, and meal made from them such as canola or soybean meal. So all chickens are essentially “grain-fed.” The difficulty is that additional 12%. Everyone (meaning processors, feed mills, and yes even individual farmers) has their own way of topping up to 100%. Each and every ingredient is government regulated but factors such as price, geography, climate, animal health, etc all play a role in determining the specific mix. Consumer demand has also created some different feed mixes that “contain no animal by-products” or “antibiotic free” but that does not mean that they use 100% grain either.

As for GMOs, here is the definition from the Canadian Food Inspection website: GM stands for “genetically modified”. An organism, such as a plant, animal or bacterium, is considered genetically modified if its genetic material has been altered through any method, including conventional breeding. A “GMO” is a genetically modified organism. According to this broad definition, all plants bred for Canada’s growing conditions are GMOs.

It is likely that any chickens fed grain in Canada are exposed to GMO feed at some point; Canada is very advanced in crop and feed science, which includes a large number of GMO crops. These have been developed to make them hardier in the Canadian climate or resistant to specific pests or herbicides. Canadian legislation does not require GMO product identification or segregation in the food chain. Certified organic feed should not contain any GMO grains.