For diners who want to know what kind of life the animals on their dinner plates had, there’s a new source of insight.

An independent program that certifies restaurants, cafeterias and some packaged-goods companies as meeting certain health and nutrition standards now include certification for animal welfare.

The new service is being provided by Eat REAL, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit that says it is devoted to improving the healthfulness of restaurant fare and the humane treatment of farm animals. It began partnering with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or ASPCA, last month to run the program.

The group’s grading is the latest example of how nutrition and the conditions of animals are seen as being important enough to restaurants and their customers that they are reaching past government agencies for assurance.

Once certified, a business gets an 11-inch ceramic dinner plate, emblazoned with “REAL Certified,” to display. Its also gets window decals and a digital copy of the certification design to use on menus, if it chooses. The second part of Eat REAL’s name stands for Responsible, Epicurean and Agricultural Leadership.

“We’re trying to bring a new level of transparency,” said Lawrence Williams, CEO of Eat REAL, which is funded through private donations, grants and certification payments from restaurants that want to be rated.