Strengthening a Producer-Led Framework for Animal Care: 2026 CSIA Updates

Strengthening a Producer-Led Framework for Animal Care: 2026 CSIA Updates

On this page:

• Commitment to Continuous Improvement
• One Audit, One Industry
• Strengthening CSIA: What's New and Why It Matters
• Education and Training That Reinforce CSIA
• What Does This Mean for the Industry and Producers?
• Building Trust in the Supply Chain

Commitment to Continuous Improvement

At its core, sustainability is about forward progress. While the term has gained prominence in recent years, the responsibility to care for animals, manage resources wisely, and plan for the future has long been central to agriculture.

As a farmer and someone deeply rooted in the pork industry, I see this commitment every day. Producers make decisions with the long term in mind - for their farms, their families, and the animals in their care. That mindset drives continuous improvement on farm and across the industry, including how we measure, verify, and communicate responsible animal care. One of the clearest examples of that commitment in action is the Common Swine Industry Audit (CSIA).

One Audit, One Industry

In the early 2010s, as animal welfare became a defined priority for customers and supply chain partners, pork producers increasingly faced multiple, overlapping audits. Many measured similar practices in inconsistent ways, creating audit fatigue, added cost, and operational burden-without delivering clearer expectations or improved outcomes for animal care.

In response, producers partnered with packers, veterinarians, animal scientists, and supply chain stakeholders to create a single, science-based audit grounded in U.S. production systems. That collaboration resulted in the launch of the Common Swine Industry Audit in 2014 and the establishment of the CSIA task force, a producer-led, multi-stakeholder group that continues to oversee and guide the audit today.

By replacing redundant audits with one consistent framework, the CSIA streamlined verification, strengthened biosecurity protections, and provided reliable, verifiable information on animal care and pre-harvest pork safety. Today, the CSIA is widely adopted and stands as a practical example of industry-led alignment and continuous improvement

Strengthening CSIA: What's New and Why It Matters

While the primary objective of CSIA is to support continuous improvement on the farm, it is equally important that the audit itself continues to evolve. Each year, the CSIA task force reviews audit outcomes, emerging science, on-farm experience, and marketplace expectations to ensure the program remains relevant, credible and practical.

In 2026, the CSIA will undergo the most comprehensive update since its original release.

The 2026 updates reflect years of data, validation research, and industry input, with major enhancements in three key areas:

• Animal Sampling: A newly validated, researched-based sampling protocol strengthens the audit's statistical rigor. The revised approach allows auditors to detect animal welfare concerns at a 0.5 percent occurrence, with a 95 percent confidence level, providing greater confidence that audit results reflect what is actually happening on farm. This update improves the accuracy, repeatability, and credibility of audit outcomes while remaining practical and feasible for on-farm use.

• Animal Benchmarking Questions: Benchmarking questions have been reframed to emphasize positive welfare outcomes, such as the percentage of animals walking well or in good condition, allowing audits to better recognize positive states while maintaining transparency about welfare concerns.

• Animal Handling: Expanded animal handling questions capture a broader range of observed behaviors, with clear expectations that all handling aligns with the site-specific Standard Operating Procedures. Updates also place increased emphasis on space allowance and handling practices during loading, unloading, and transport.

The CSIA reduces the need for multiple, redundant audits while providing a shared, credible framework for evaluating animal care and pre-harvest pork safety across the supply chain.

Education and Training That Reinforce CSIA

CSIA does not exist in isolation-it is supported by education and training programs that prepare people and farms to meet those expectations. Programs like Pork Quality Assurance Plus® (PQA Plus®) and Transport Quality Assurance® (TQA®) equip producers and caretakers with science-based training to support animal care and well-being. Like CSIA, these programs undergo regular review and research-driven updates. For more than 35 years, they have evolved alongside the industry, ensuring producers have the tools and information needed to continuously refine on-farm practices.

What Does This Mean for the Industry and Producers?

The 2026 CSIA updates represent a meaningful step forward for both producers and the broader pork industry. For producers, these updates translate into clearer expectations and more meaningful data. For the industry, they strengthen a shared, defensible framework for animal care. Together, these improvements reinforce the industry's commitment to continuous improvement and provide a stronger, more defensible way to demonstrate responsible animal care in a changing marketplace.

Building Trust in the Supply Chain

Delivering pork from farms to tables around the world is a shared responsibility across the entire supply chain-from production and processing to transportation, retail, and foodservice. The CSIA provides a consistent, third-party verified framework that allows every link in that chain to understand and trust how pigs are cared for on farm. Through the CSIA, the industry speaks a common language around animal welfare, grounded in science and practical application.

From my perspective, the CSIA works because it respects producers' expertise while providing a practical, defensible tool that supports alignment, trust, and long-term resilience across the supply chain.

To learn more about the CSIA and download updated resources, visit porkcheckoff.org/csia. For questions about the future of the CSIA, please email [email protected].