Regenerative Organic Certified Silver: Pork
This label is an add-on to the USDA Organic label with additional stipulations for environmental quality, animal welfare and worker welfare. To earn the certification, farms with the ROC Silver certification must initially manage at least 50 percent of all farmland in accordance with the ROC standards and earn 50 percent of their revenue from products that meet the standards. Within 5 years of earning ROC Silver certification, 75 percent of the farm must be managed in accordance with ROC Silver Standards.
Requires Verification/Inspection
FoodPrint Label Criteria
Animal Feed Quality
Produced without industrial pesticides
Synthetic fertilizers or sewage sludge prohibited
Access to pasture or forage area
Prohibits animal waste and byproduct
Restricts use of feed supplements
Prohibits GMOs
Drug Use
Antibiotics only for sick animals or prohibited
Prohibit hormones and other drugs to healthy animals
Environmental and Pasture Quality
Pasture management
Synthetic fertilizers or sewage sludge prohibited
Grown without industrial pesticides
Biodiversity required in pasture
Soil health monitored/measured for improvement over time
Requires accounting or modeling of carbon emissions and sequestration
Animal Welfare and Living Conditions
Indoor space requirements
Prohibits long term confinement
Standards for indoor ammonia levels
Hygiene and manure management addressed
Teeth filing and clipping prohibited
Taildocking prohibited
Bedding required for indoor housing
Prohibits slatted flooring in indoor housing
Gestation crates prohibited
Farrowing crates prohibited
Standards for animal wellbeing in transport including maximum duration times
Welfare standards for slaughtering addressed
Pasture required throughout grazing/growing season
Worker Welfare
Standards and protections for workers on farm
Standards and protections for workers in processing plants
Fair/living wages ensured*
Health care insurance ensured
*Operations that cannot pay a living wage must communicate why they cannot and have a plan in place to progress to paying a living wage
Food Label Glossary
For explanations of some of these technical terms, like “rotational grazing” or “sewage sludge fertilizers,” please visit our glossary.