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All antibiotics used are approved by Health Canada and/or are used in conjunction with a veterinary prescription.

CFC has banned the use of antibiotics obtained through the Own-Use Importation (OUI) provision and the use of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API). CFC has eliminated the preventive use of Category I antibiotics – those most important to human health.

CFC’s On-Farm Food Safety Assurance Program has requirements for use; this program is audited annually and is mandatory in each Canadian province. Chicken Farmers also submit a flock sheet to processors and CFIA veterinarians for each flock processed, detailing the antibiotics that were used.

While farmers set the farm gate price, they do not set wholesale or retail prices. Grocery stores and restaurants set the market price based on what the market can bear.

Farm gate price is set in consultation with processors and considers costs of production and competitiveness. The farmer’s share is only a fraction of what is paid by consumers.

The price gap between Canadian and American products can be attributed to a variety of factors. On average, Canadians pay 23% more than Americans for ALL their goods and services. (source: OECD) In January 2013, the Globe and Mail commissioned a survey comparing 16 goods and services in Wal-Mart stores across the U.S. and in Canada, which found the same conclusion.

When Target announced the opening of its first stores in Canada, people expected the same prices as in the U.S. The President of Target Canada, Tony Fischer, explained why that wasn’t the case:

• Higher transportation and fuel costs
• Higher wages
• Lack of economies of scale
• Different and higher tax rates

The same reasons were cited in the Senate Committee on National Finance’s report to the Canada-USA Price Gap.

Chicken farmers take great care to raise their birds from the moment they arrive on the farm.

Chicks arrive at the farm as day-old birds and are placed into a barn that is maintained at 30 degrees Celsius. Fresh water and feed are made available so that they quickly start drinking and eating after a long trip. Right before hatching, chicks absorb the yolk sack in the egg which can sustain them for many hours until they reach their first meal.

As the birds grow, the temperature of the barn is decreased and their feed changes from a chick starter to a grower ration. Farmers may provide different rations as they grow to meet their nutritional and energy requirements.

Fresh feed and water is provided to the chickens through automated feed and water lines. The barn is kept at a comfortable temperature for the birds and proper air ventilation is maintained. If any of these systems malfunctions, the farmer is notified immediately and can quickly resolve the problem.

The birds take approximately 6-8 weeks to grow to attain their desired weight. Once they've reached market weight, they are loaded by ‘catchers’ onto transport trucks, and then delivered to the processor.

Farmers also monitor their flocks for health issues. Through biosecurity protocols, farmers can prevent the introduction of diseases from wild birds or other vectors. Farmers will often consult with a poultry veterinarian in the case of a health issue. Regulations are in place to ensure proper use of medications in flocks.

No. Hormones use in poultry production in Canada is illegal. In fact, it has been banned for over 50 years.

There are a lot of good reasons as to why hormones aren't used in poultry production.

Growth hormones aren't effective. It has been shown that giving growth hormones does not lead to increased growth in chickens. In a similar vein, injecting growth hormone into humans will not lead to development of a winning basketball team. Growth is an extremely complex combination of metabolic functions, depending on a wide array of endocrinological signals.

Administration of hormones would be extremely difficult. Growth hormone is a protein and if consumed orally, they would be quickly be digested in the same way as protein from corn or soy. Even if a positive effect were likely from growth hormone , it would need to be injected into chickens on a very frequent basis. The logistics of injecting hundreds of thousands of chickens with hormone illustrates the impossiblity of this scenario.

It would be expensive. Chicken growth hormone is not produced commercially, its cost would be extremely high. If one (1mg.) were to be administered to a broiler, the cost would be far in excess of the value of the chicken itself. Obviously, this makes no commercial sense.

Negative impact of chicken performance. The modern broiler has been genetically selected to grow rapidly and occasionally encounters physiological limits. Like humans, a “growth spurt” is usually accompanied by joint inflammation and other problems. Chicken farmers actually monitor, and sometimes limit growth rate and to decrease the incidence of lameness, heart attack and ascites. It would be highly counterproductive to suddenly force a higher rate of growth on broiler chickens.

Hormones are simply not needed. The rapid growth of broilers is very easy to explain without resorting to hormones. Through genetic selection for the past several decades, birds have reached a specified market weight one day earlier per year. The growth of modern broilers is a logical consequence of slow but consistent improvements in genetics, nutrition, management and disease control.

Reference: The University of Georgia, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Cooperative Extension ~ Poultry Housing Tips

No. The birds are not confined, they are free to roam the barn.

The birds are raised in climate controlled barns to protect them from harsh winters, hot summers, predators and disease.

The chickens are bedded down with either straw or wood shavings. Chickens have access to fresh water and feed throughout the barn. Proper ventilation is important. Fans and air intakes draw fresh air through the barn.

Maintaining barn conditions is very important to the chicken farmer. If the temperature changes, or it a fan fails, farmers have an alert system that dials their cell phone to notify them if they are away from the barn. The comfort of the chickens is an important part of the Animal Care Program that all producers are required to be certified with.

No. Consumers can be assured that poultry and eggs are free of antibiotic residues.

Testing has revealed no significant residue levels in over a decade. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is involved in monitoring for antimicrobial residues and for monitoring antimicrobial use and withdrawal periods by way of the CFIA veterinarians at federal processing plants.

Federal regulations (i.e. CFIA Meat Hygiene Manual of Procedures, Chapter 19, section 3.4.2) require poultry farmers to report all antibiotics that have been used for each flock prior to the birds being processed. CFIA veterinarians verify these reports to determine that antibiotics were used as per their label or with a veterinary prescription and that the antibiotics are being used at the appropriate dosage for the appropriate application. Any product failing this investigation is not allowed on the market.

Antibiotic use and resistance is a critical priority for the chicken industry. The responsible use of antibiotics, providing a safe food supply to consumers and maintaining high animal care standards are all critical priorities.

Chicken Farmers of Canada is engaged in continuous education with farmers and stakeholders across Canada about the importance of antibiotics, the need for responsible use and the threat of antimicrobial resistance. CFC has actively been involved using veterinary epidemiologists and farmers while enforcing the principle of responsible antibiotic use and the potential for reduction strategies.

Chicken Farmers of Canada is actively involved in surveillance activities of antibiotic use and resistance in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada. Results from these publically available reports will help inform further antibiotic use reduction policies by both government and industry.

Chicken Farmers of Canada are reducing the use of antibiotics most important to human health. CFC has implemented a new policy that eliminates the preventive use of Category I antibiotics – those most important to human medicine. More specifically, this policy eliminates the preventive use of Ceftiofur and Fluoroquinolones. Chicken Farmers of Canada is committed to examining further antibiotic reduction strategies where possible. Industry and federal government surveillance programs will help inform these decisions. CFC will continue to work closely with Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Chicken Farmers of Canada supports the removal of growth promotion claims from antibiotic labels.

Chicken Farmers of Canada is supportive of the governments’ efforts to close policy gaps for own-use importation and active pharmaceutical ingredients. In fact, CFC has prohibited the use of these loopholes in CFC’s On-Farm Food Safety Assurance Program. Chicken farmers do not “import truckloads of almost any antibiotics they like for use on their own animals, from anywhere in the world”.

Chicken Farmers of Canada operates a HACCP-based program that standardizes on-farm food safety practices for food safety. The program is mandatory in all 10 provinces. CFC is the first commodity in Canada to have received full recognized from the federal, provincial and territorial governments (led by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency) for its on-farm food safety program.

A number of resources are available on CFC’s website (www.chicken.ca ) that discuss antimicrobial use and resistance including information on the industry strategy; please feel free to refer to these at your convenience.

The European Union has not banned the use of antibiotics altogether.

Through a succession of bans, the European Union banned the majority of all feed antibiotics used for livestock agriculture. This is not a full ban on antibiotics, as antibiotics to cure sick birds are needed and are still allowed to be used. This approach has reduced the overall amount of medications being used, but they have removed drugs that had little or no use in human medicine. As a result of the ban, there has been a significant increase in the amount of antibiotics used in birds that are closer to the ones associated with human medicine, specifically fluoroquinolones and macrolides.

Canada (and North America) are taking a different approach by focusing on those antibiotics most critical to human health.

Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development has provided the following document for reference:

• Backyard Hens - Resources & Links
• List of Poultry Vets in Alberta - 2019

**NOTE** Many municipalities have bylaws regarding raising chickens within city/town limits. Check with your local city/town to find out what bylaws apply. You must also talk to your municipality regarding proper disposal of carcasses.

Processing Plants - To find a provincially inspected processing plant near you, please contact the government of Alberta's Ag-Info Centre at 310-FARM (310-3276).

We think the chicken came first, and we’re not the only ones. In a scientific report published in 2010, a group of British scientists concluded that only a chicken could produce the eggshell protein used to make a chicken egg, and therefore, the chicken must have come first.