American Humane Certified food producers, partners and scientific advisors gathered at the American Humane Association in Englewood, Colo., recently for the program’s first technology meeting to provide feedback on the online reporting and video monitoring portions of its new auditing process.

American Humane Certified, the nation’s original humane food label, is conducting the first round of beta testing of its new, three-tiered auditing system, which includes annual on-site auditing, online reporting and 24/7 live video monitoring. American Humane Certified developed the multilevel system to monitor animal welfare in real-time in order to take immediate action, when necessary, to correct welfare issues. The system also provides producers with tools for continuous improvement of their operations and ways to manage risk.

American Humane Certified’s auditing process, introduced in September 2008, is known as “True Humane Tracking.” The proprietary auditing process not only reassures retailers of producers’ compliance with welfare standards more frequently than annual on-site audits alone, but it also provides continuous educational opportunities.

The online reporting component, developed by CDC Software, ensures transparency, accountability, consistency and dependability in humane animal welfare practices and allows producers to observe their production data on an ongoing basis. The online reporting system will be expanded to incorporate training for producers and their cooperatives.

The video monitoring system, developed by HS3 Technologies Inc., allows producers and American Humane Certified to monitor animal welfare remotely through real-time video.