Poultry Welfare Auditor Training Course to be held in Canada

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario - The Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization (PAACO) will hold a Canadian version of its popular Poultry Welfare Auditor Training Course in Mississauga, Ontario from Sept. 25-27, in cooperation with the Poultry Industry Council.

PAACO has been training poultry welfare auditors since 2006, and this will be the first time the course has been offered outside of the United States.

“Over the years, we have had significant interest and participation from Canadians in our poultry courses,” said PAACO Chairman Karen Christensen. “When we were approached about holding a training (session) in Canada, it seemed a logical next step to broaden our scope and also accommodate the increasing demand from the poultry industry.”

Although the course has been slightly modified to align with the Canada poultry industry structure, the training will adhere to poultry welfare audit criteria that are commonly audited and will be equivalent to the U.S.-based sessions. Welfare will be addressed related to broilers, turkeys and egg layers and includes production segments of breeders, hatchery, grower/producer, transportation and processing.

Classroom instruction will be held the first two days, with the first day providing a background on management and husbandry related to welfare criteria and audits and day two will focus specifically on the process to audit those criteria. On the third day, trainees will go into the fields for audit and demonstrations at broiler, layer and turkey facilities. At the conclusion of the site visits, participants will complete a closed-book test.

Registration is now open on a first-come, first-served basis for $950 per trainee. Class size is limited. Interested parties should contact PAACO Executive Director Mike Simpson at 402-403-0104, or at mike@animalauditor.org. More information is available at www.animalauditor.org.