The CEO of Halo®, Myron Lyskanycz, is on a mission to improve the way farm animals are raised, for their sake as well as the betterment of the pets whose diets depend on high quality protein.
What is GAP?
The Global Animal Partnership is a global leader in farm animal welfare that has established a comprehensive step-by-step program for raising animals, with the goal of improving the welfare of animals in agriculture. It touches on issues like cage-free chickens, raising pigs gestation-crate-free and eliminating severe confinement for veal, all of which are examples of ways in which it is possible to consider the life of animals being raised for food.
Why Does Gap Certification Matter?
GAP certification of food is something most of us know little or nothing about, yet it matters in profound ways. The GAP certification label verifies that the animals have been raised following comprehensive standards focused on their care and welfare. GAP makes it easier for us as consumers to find meat products that have been created with respect for all the animals in the food chain.
Halo embraces the Global Animal Partnership (GAP)
Assuming an impressive leadership role in the pet food industry, Halo has made a commitment to using meat and poultry proteins that are GAP certified. What is remarkable about this corporate decision is that doing so creates a challenge for Halo, to sustain a constant stream in the supply chain of pet food ingredients (to ensure that all the meat products come from certified providers, and that there is a reliable quantity of the ingredients. Sourcing this way also costs substantially more, thereby reducing the profit on the foods – but fundamentally it’s about taking a stand for a better world for all animals).
Compassion and consideration for all animals is a lesson to all of us that with a bit of extra effort and expense, it’s possible to provide nutrition that reflects our core values and shows respect for the farm animals, as well as our own pets.
Can You Find GAP certified foods for your human family?
I’m grateful I can feed my dogs Halo and know I am doing something to speak up for the farm animals whose lives contribute to their food.
Beyond the dogs’ food, the challenge is how to get assurances about all the ingredients that go into my own diet. It’s only when you set out to do that – to make sure everything you buy to eat is GAP certified – that you discover what how large Halo’s accomplishment really is!
Tracie Hotchner is a nationally acclaimed pet wellness advocate, who wrote THE DOG BIBLE: Everything Your Dog Wants You to Know and THE CAT BIBLE: Everything Your Cat Expects You to Know. She is recognized as the premiere voice for pets and their people on pet talk radio. She continues to produce and host her own Gracie® Award winning NPR show DOG TALK® (and Kitties, Too!) from Peconic Public Broadcasting in the Hamptons after 9 consecutive years and over 500 shows. She produced and hosted her own live, call-in show CAT CHAT® on the Martha Stewart channel of Sirius/XM for over 7 years until the channel was canceled, when Tracie created her own Radio Pet Lady Network where she produces and co-hosts CAT CHAT® along with 10 other pet talk radio podcasts with top veterinarians and pet experts.
Tracie also is the Founder and Director of the annual NY Dog Film Festival, a philanthropic celebration of the love between dogs and their people. Short canine-themed documentary, animated and narrative films from around the world create a shared audience experience that inspires, educates and entertains. With a New York City premiere every October, the Festival then travels around the country, partnering in each location with an outstanding animal welfare organization that brings adoptable dogs to the theater and receives half the proceeds of the ticket sales. Halo was a Founding Sponsor in 2015 and donated 10,000 meals to the beneficiary shelters in every destination around the country in 2016.
Tracie lives in Bennington, Vermont – where the Radio Pet Lady Network studio is based – and where her 12 acres are well-used by her 2-girl pack of lovely, lively rescued Weimaraners, Maisie and Wanda.