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RSPCA Certified is now a certification trade mark; here’s what it means and how it’s helping farmed animals

Eagle-eyed consumers may have noticed a change to the logo representing RSPCA’s farm animal welfare certification. The new logo features the new name RSPCA Certified, marking a significant shift in how the program communicates its purpose to consumers, and better reflects how the program operates and its impact on farmed animal welfare.

RSPCA Australia
Monday, 22 June 2026

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What’s in a logo?

When you spot the RSPCA Certified logo on a product, it means the animal was raised in line with RSPCA Australia’s Standards. These Standards are designed with one goal in mind: improving the welfare of farmed animals. They set stringent, detailed requirements for housing and care, whether animals are kept indoors, outdoors or a combination of both.

On average, each Standard includes 343 unique requirements that producers must meet to achieve certification, a strong indication of how thorough the program is. Importantly, the RSPCA Australia Standards go beyond Australia’s minimum legal requirements for farming, providing animals with better living conditions and more opportunities to express behaviours that are important for their physical and mental wellbeing.

To achieve certification, RSPCA Certified Producers must meet the relevant animal-specific RSPCA Australia Standard and go through a rigorous certification process. Conformance is checked through regular scheduled and unscheduled assessments carried out by specially trained RSPCA Assessors, helping ensure the requirements of the Standard are being met in practice, not just on paper.

Brands using the RSPCA Certified logo must also be able to trace products all the way back to the farm they came from. That traceability is an important part of maintaining trust in the program. RSPCA Assessors regularly review these systems to make sure RSPCA Certified products are handled correctly at every part of the production process.

Why Certified?

For decades, Australians wanting to make more welfare-conscious choices when shopping for food, have looked for the RSPCA’s logo indicating the product has come from an animal raised to RSPCA’s higher-welfare standards. But as conversations about food production, responsible sourcing and transparency have evolved, so has the need for clearer communication. In a supermarket aisle crowded with labels, claims such as farm fresh, natural and free range can appear vague, leaving shoppers uncertain about production methods, and the welfare of the animals behind them. The inclusion of the term certified in the new brand name is important, as it clearly signals that the program is a formal certification to specific standards. The new RSPCA Certified logo is a registered certification trade mark, approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

A certification trade mark is a legally protected mark that can only be used by organisations or businesses with specific standards established by the owner. The RSPCA Certified trade mark shows that a product has been produced and independently assessed against the RSPCA’s standards across the supply chain, from farm to final product. So, when the 96% of Australians who say animal welfare matters in their purchasing decisions look for the RSPCA Certified logo, they can feel confident those products have been verified against stringent animal welfare standards, not simply marketed with reassuring language.

Ultimately, the new RSPCA Certified brand is about making the program’s role clearer and easier to understand. It signals that the logo stands for more than general support for good animal welfare. It reflects a system built on better welfare standards, rigorous assessments and ongoing verification, all designed to drive meaningful improvements in the lives of farmed animals in Australia.

What this means for animals on farm

What does this all mean for animals on farm? One of the clearest examples is chickens raised for meat.

Meat chickens raised on an RSPCA Certified farm live a better life than many on conventional farms. The farm is assessed against the RSPCA Australia Standard – Meat Chickens which includes specific requirements designed to support the bird’s physical and mental needs throughout their lives. RSPCA Certified farms have lower stocking densities than conventional systems, enrichment such as pecking and foraging materials, carefully managed environments that allow for appropriate periods of activity and rest, and housing that promotes comfort and wellbeing. Where outdoor access is included, those areas must also be well maintained, with provision of shade and suitable vegetation. Together, these requirements help create conditions that encourage physical activity, improve health, and give meat chickens more opportunities to engage in behaviours that are important to them such as perching, dust bathing, foraging, ground scratching, and stretching and flapping their wings.

Research shows that 73% of Australians believe animal welfare is an important consideration when purchasing food products at the supermarket, indicating a considerable demand for higher welfare food. Since the first RSPCA Standard for meat chickens was released in 2010, hundreds of millions of meat chickens have lived better lives. Prior to the release of that first Standard, sheds were often highly stocked, with low light, poor litter quality and no perches. The adoption of the RSPCA’s Standard has seen space per bird increase, better lighting provided, good litter quality and provision of perches and enrichment, resulting in a better quality of life for meat chickens.

There have been meaningful improvements in meat chicken welfare over the years largely due to the RSPCA’s higher welfare Standard and the work of RSPCA Certified, which works with industry and business to improve the lives of animals and make higher welfare food available to Australians. Chickens raised for meat represent the largest population of intensively farmed animals in Australia and improving their welfare remains a priority. RSPCA Certified and our continuous improvement approach is just one of the ways in which the RSPCA works to improve the lives of farmed animals and it’s an important piece of the puzzle – working directly with farmers and industry stakeholders to drive tangible change now and into the future.

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RSPCA Certified is now a certification trade mark; here’s what it means and how it’s helping farmed animals

What’s in a logo?

Why Certified?

What this means for animals on farm

Stay informed on big issues and how you can help improve animal welfare across Australia.