Australian Chicken Meat Sustainability Framework launched

The Australian Chicken Meat Industry Sustainability Framework showcases how chicken meat is one of Australia’s lowest-environmental impact products, and how industry is doing its part to support Australian agriculture’s ongoing drive towards to a climate friendly future while continuing to uphold strong food security, build economic resilience and supply chain productivity.

CEO, Australian Chicken Meat Federation, Dr Mary Wu said the Australian Chicken Meat Sustainability Framework is a significant achievement for the industry and demonstrates continued growth for an industry that first began in the mid-1950s.

“Chicken meat is Australia’s most cost-effective and widely consumed land-based meat and is shown to also have the smallest environmental footprint – including in areas such as carbon emissions, fossil fuel energy usage, total land occupation, and overall water consumption” Dr Wu said.

“We want the Australian Chicken Meat Sustainability Framework to showcase and build on this achievement by ensuring the industry strives to improve the wellbeing of people, community, animals and the natural environment – and more importantly have the evidence to demonstrate how this is being done.

The Framework has four themes – chickens; planet; people; and food security and economic resilience.

Under these themes the priorities include:

•         Animal husbandry – optimising animal care for enhanced health, wellbeing, feed efficiency and resilience.
•         Animal welfare – maintaining strong and practical animal welfare standards, from hatching to processing, with ongoing high levels of industry uptake.
•         Waste and the circular economy – minimising waste to landfill and encouraging the reuse and recycling of a range of materials.
•         Australian production and consumption – providing Australian consumers with a reliable, affordable, consistent and ongoing supply of quality and nutritious food.
•         Diversity and inclusion – providing an inclusive workplace for people from a diverse range of backgrounds, identities and experiences.

Senior Manager of AgriFutures Chicken Meat Program, Amanda Olthof, said the Australian Chicken Meat Sustainability Framework creates a deeper shared understanding for industry and consumers alike, clearly communicating the current standards of the industry alongside future goals and targets.

“The industry, with an estimated retail value of over $8 billion, stands to benefit significantly from enhanced communication of its sustainability credentials. By adopting this Framework, we can build ongoing momentum to drive superior sustainability outcomes in the chicken meat sector” Ms. Olthof said.

“While it is designed to reflect the overall position on the chicken meat industry, it can also act as a benchmark or guideline to help individual businesses and operations set their own more ambitious sustainability goals and targets.”

The Framework was developed by Australian Chicken Meat Federation and the AgriFutures Australia, in consultation with key stakeholders including principal participants in the chicken meat supply chain, service providers, certification bodies and customers.

The Framework is designed to evolve and change and will be reviewed every three years to ensure it is fit for purpose and able to accurately reflect changing priorities and expectations.

For more information, please find the Framework here.

-ENDS- 

Media enquiries:   
Ingrid Lee-Scott

Dentsu Creative Public Relations

0410 047 767

Quick chicken meat facts:

·        The average Australian eats chicken at least twice a week and consumes 50kg of chicken a year.

·        The industry provides jobs for more than 58, 000 full-time employees.

·        1.5 billion kg of chicken meat are produced in Australia annually, 97% being consumed domestically.

·        The industry has an estimated retail value of over $8 billion per annum.