CRSB Certified is an operation-level third party audited certification program.
Its standards serve as a checklist to recognize sustainable beef practices across the nation, enable sustainable beef sourcing, and build consumer confidence in the sustainability of Canadian beef, backed by credible, science-based claims.
Certification
Recognizing responsible practices against beef sustainability standards through 3rd party certification.
Sourcing
Enabling sourcing for food companies to meet their sustainability commitments.
Assurances
Building consumer confidence through credible, science-based assurances.
Producers
If anyone understands responsible beef production practices, it’s the farmers and ranchers on the ground. The CRSB’s beef sustainability certification recognizes best practices, and invites producers on a journey of continuous improvement.
Processors
Processing is a crucial part of bringing beef to tables across Canada, and processors play an important role in getting the beef from Certified Sustainable farms and ranches to the stores and restaurants for consumers.
Sourcing
Marketing beef as certified sustainable appeals to people who are seeking to make responsible food choices. It also helps recognize the producers and processors who are working hard to bring sustainably-raised beef to Canadian consumers.
Consumers
When you purchase beef from certified sustainable farms and ranches, you are demonstrating that sustainability is important to you. You are supporting the people who are producing your food, and encouraging stores and restaurants where you shop and eat to source products certified to sustainability standards.
What is Sustainability?
It’s no secret that the world population is growing. We have to be able to produce more food out of fewer resources. It’s one of the big reasons why beef sustainability is important for our food system. It’s also why our partners across the beef supply chain, from farmers to retail and foodservice companies, as well as conservation groups like Ducks Unlimited Canada, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Birds Canada and World Wildlife Fund (to name a few) have made efforts to support sustainable agriculture.
Being able to produce beef in a way that’s responsible to the environment, animals, the farmers and ranchers that grow our food, with confidence of the consumers that feed it to their families, is crucial.
Beef Sustainability is...
Socially Responsible - Caring for our animals, families and communities
Environmentally Sound - Conserving and enhancing the land, water and air
Economically viable - Building a strong foundation for generations to come
Why beef sustainability is important
Sustainable production not only delivers high quality, nutritious beef products, it helps produce those products in an environmentally and socially responsible way. Beef producers are committed to caring for their livestock, protecting the land where cattle graze, and the communities in which they live and work. Sustainable grazing practices not only enhance the land that isn't suitable for other agricultural production such as crops, but enables cycling nutrients back into the soil, stimulating new growth, enhancing soil health, and keeping Canada's grassland ecosystems stable and healthy. This benefits the land and the animals, not only for the cattle, but also for the many other species that make Canadian grazing lands their home.
Beef sustainability is centred around five main principles that encompass environmental, social and economic perspectives.
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Natural Resources
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People & The Community
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Animal Health & Welfare
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Food
Learn more
Connecting the Dots
This Framework brings together the whole beef value chain from producer to consumer, and all the steps in between. It recognizes the sustainable practices of beef producers and processors, supports the supply chain to source sustainably raised products according to robust standards, and builds consumer confidence about how beef is raised in Canada, backed by an independent, science-based verification system.
Verifying Sustainability
Independent (3rd party) Certification Bodies certify farms, ranches and processors to the CRSB’s Sustainability Standards, and audit the systems used to track the cattle and beef from Certified Operations through the chain.
Supporting sustainable practices
The Framework allows for different ways to source beef from CRSB Certified farms and ranches through the supply chain. One of those ways is known as "mass balance".
The mass balance model is an internationally-recognized sourcing model that provides a starting point to help companies demonstrate their commitment to sustainable practices, while building critical volume within their supply chains to source product from Certified Operations. It supports sustainable practices of beef farmers and ranchers and others throughout the supply chain committed to all aspects of sustainability.
When you see this mark, it means that the company or brand is sourcing a minimum of 30% of its beef total volume from farms, ranches and processing facilities certified according to CRSB standards for sustainability, thereby supporting and contributing to sustainable beef production in Canada.
We acknowledge the [financial] support of the Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
