On February 13, there was a joint meeting of the Animal Welfare Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and Producer Committee for Animal Welfare.  This was an opportunity for members of the two committees to discuss topics of interest and to strengthen both committees’ efforts to improve hen welfare.

Per UEP Board direction,  the committees identified three potential outcome-based measures that could be part of the UEP Certified Cage-Free audit in the future:  1) height under the system 2)  nest and 3) height over the perch.  The Scientific Advisory Committee will work with the Producer committee to define the acceptable outcomes for each of these measures and report at UEP’s May meetings.

At the end of the meeting, Mark Oldenkamp was honored by both committees for his 14 years as Chair of the Animal Welfare Producer Committee.