Buying meat and egg products has never been
more confusing.
Although organic certification comes from the USDA, humane certification is a whole other sector. Turns out, there are multiple non-profits that give out animal welfare certifications, and each has slightly different requirements. For those of you who are thinking, "Don't all organic farms treat their animals kindly?" this is unfortunately not always the case.
Organic farms have certain humane regulations that they must meet, but the extent to which those regulations are carried out and enforced can often be determined by the farm. On the flip side, not all farms that are humanely raising meat are certified organic. If both factors - organic and humane - are important to you, then you need to look out for two separate labels.
A recent article in The New York Times decided to parse out the differences between the top three animal welfare certification organizations (right), as well as point out some of the controversies that exist within this labeling system. We recommend that you give it a read!