LEGAP’s animal welfare push

In a speech to industry leaders at the LivEx forum in Melbourne recently, Peter Schuster of Schuster Consulting Group, explained the purpose and potential benefit of the program within the live export supply chains that aims to lift standards and management of animal welfare across international borders.

"The livestock export industry is fundamentally opposed to the inhumane treatment of animals," Mr Schuster said.

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"LEGAP will provide the mechanism to actively demonstrate this and just as importantly, improve the welfare of all animals - not just livestock exported from Australia - on a global basis."

The development of the program, scheduled for completion in December 2015, stemmed from the Federal Government's independent Farmer Review following the 2011 trade suspension of live cattle to Indonesia.

He said what precipitated from the trade suspension, was a "crisis of confidence".

"The Australian public and the then government ceased to believe that the trade was good for the nation," Mr Schuster said.

"Around the time of this conference a year ago, the industry faced a decision - maintain the status quo; that is continue to exist at the whim of government and without a uniform structured approach to providing the public and government with the assurance they require or take control of its own destiny through the creation of just that."

While he commended the development of the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) in 2011 as an interim solution to restart the trade, Mr Schuster said LEGAP was able to go further by sharing responsibility of animal welfare with those who can more immediately influence this in-market on a day-to-day basis; something that an Australian regulatory framework is unable to achieve in sovereign nations.

"The industry has recognised that it must be active in gaining the public's confidence and LEGAP clearly demonstrates industry's commitment to animal welfare and the sustainability of the trade," he said.

An experienced team have been commissioned by Meat & Livestock Australia and LiveCorp to develop and pilot the program.

Mr Schuster said the objectives of the program were to provide assurances the policies, systems and processes post disembarkation for the traceability and welfare of animals in export markets were functioning effectively and to enable continuous improvement.

"Much of the ESCAS reform work currently being progressed by industry and government will lay the foundation for LEGAP and allow the program to be implemented sooner than would otherwise be the case," Mr Schuster said.

The program will initially focus on the period from the point of disembarkation in-market through to slaughter, however, the framework will be flexible, potentially enabling the program to be applied back to the farm-gate or to accommodate evolving requirements.

"The animal welfare requirements of the LEGAP Standards will be based on the World Organisation for Animal Health, or OIE's, Terrestrial Animal Health Code, just as the checklist is which is currently in use under ESCAS," Mr Schuster said.

"LEGAP will be a certification program requiring facilities in-market to be certified against an auditable, outcome-based set of standards that govern the requirements for animal husbandry, welfare, traceability, control, management systems and risk management."

"LEGAP is unprecedented and ambitious, but achievable and stands to do more for improving animal welfare in foreign markets than any activity to-date in that it is not being limited in scope only to Australian livestock."