BECOMING CERTIFIED

What do we certify?

The Welfair™ certification, based on Welfare Quality® and AWIN, was developed to certify animal welfare on farms, in production areas and in slaughterhouses, always in addition to legal requirements. As such, there is a second inspection above and beyond that is made by the competent authority (official veterinarians) to ensure that there is no legal noncompliance in the facilities being evaluated. Compliance with the law is a prerequisite to be eligible for a scoring and not a part of it. Farmers from countries with less demanding legislation than that of the European Union are required to comply with the same requirements as those of the EU as a prerequisite for certification.

How do we do it?

Farmers who wish to be awarded the Welfair™ animal welfare seal are subject to an audit by a certification body. This certification body must have auditors trained as established by the Welfare Quality® and AWIN networks, EU research centre networks that ensure the integrity of the Welfare Quality® and AWIN protocols. IRTA, a Welfare Quality® Network member, is in charge of supervising the proper workings of certification companies in collaboration with NEIKER, an AWIN Network member

Certification involves the periodic inspection and supervision of farms and slaughterhouses. The audits vary, as the criteria applied are specific and unique to each species or product. Each audit evaluates the four principles and 12 criteria with specific measures for each species. Only the centres that obtain the minimum point score for all analysed criteria obtain the certification

The final evaluation report received by the centre not only indicates the final score obtained, which will allow the farm or slaughterhouse to pass the evaluation, but also allows the farmer to identify the critical points identified, thus serving as a guideline to implement improvements in their facilities and animal management.

Companies that have several farms are randomly analysed by means of a square root analysis of the total number of farms and the corresponding farms are audited once a year. A series of internal self-checks are also required as part of the evaluation.

Centres that have already been certified are reviewed periodically at random to ensure compliance