Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40337299›Full record

ArticleAnimal welfare (South Mimms, England)2025

Exploring the legitimacy of industry-led farm animal welfare governance using examples of Canadian and United States dairy standards.

Christine Kuo, Daniel M Weary, Steven M Roche, Marina A G von Keyserlingk

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Animal welfare (South Mimms, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Christine KuoAnimal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, The University of British Columbia, 2357 Main Mall Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z6.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5865-9268
Daniel M WearyAnimal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, The University of British Columbia, 2357 Main Mall Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z6.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0917-3982
Steven M RocheACER Consulting, 101-100 Stone Road West, Guelph, ON, Canada, N1G 5L3.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6934-6497
Marina A G von KeyserlingkAnimal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, The University of British Columbia, 2357 Main Mall Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z6.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1427-3152

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The governance of farm animal welfare is led, in certain countries and sectors, by industry organisations. The aim of this study was to analyse the legitimacy of industry-led farm animal welfare governance focusing on two examples: the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle and the Animal Care module of the proAction programme in Canada, and the Animal Care module of the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) programme in the United States (US). Both are dairy cattle welfare governance programmes led by industry actors who create the standards and audit farms for compliance. We described the normative legitimacy of these systems, based on an input, throughput, and output framework, by performing a document analysis on publicly available information from these organisations' websites and found that the legitimacy of both systems was enhanced by their commitment to science, the presence of accountability systems to enforce standards, and wide participation by dairy farms. The Canadian system featured more balanced representation, and their standard development process uses a consensus-based model, which bolsters legitimacy compared to the US system. However, the US system was more transparent regarding audit outcomes than the Canadian system. Both systems face challenges to their legitimacy due to heavy industry representation and limited transparency as to how public feedback is addressed in the standards. These Canadian and US dairy industry standards illustrate strengths and weakness of industry-led farm animal welfare governance.

Indexed as

animal welfareassurancedairy cattlelegitimacyprivate governancestandards

Identifiers

PMID40337299
PMCPMC12056415

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-SA
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.