Development of alternative welfare standards for the Australian chicken meat industry

Summary

The Australian chicken meat industry requested the development of alternative industry animal welfare standards that promote practical, scientifically valid and economically sustainable welfare improvements. These standards are required to contain standards and performance indicators for a wide selection of areas including but not limited to hatchery requirements, biosecurity requirements and traceability. Based on a review of national and international literature, including existing applicable standards, an initial framework for the standards will be developed. This framework will be discussed in targeted industry meetings and an industry workshop. Barriers to industry adoption and details of each potential standard will be discussed. From this limited industry consultation, a full draft of the alternative standards, guidelines and auditable requirements will be developed and reviewed by a project Steering Committee prior to full industry consultation.

The wider industry will have the opportunity to review the draft standards via a series of three online forums. Feedback provided both during and after the forums will be collated and, where appropriate, incorporated into the final version. A proposed governance structure and auditing process for independent standards verification will also be developed. The likely impacts of the commercial implementation of the standards will also be developed. The likely impacts of the commercial implementation of the standards will be delivered as a high-level Impact Statement, and a Gap analysis will highlight areas of likely high animal welfare risk, guiding future updates of the standards. Once finalised, the alternative standards will be promoted on industry websites and a final presentation highlighting project outcomes will be made available.

Program

Chicken Meat

Research Organisation

Ruadh Consulting

Objective Summary

Core project objectives are completion of:

Review of existing standards and guidelines related to welfare of Australian poultry.
Review of scientific evidence, including national and international literature.
Drafting of an initial framework for alternative industry welfare standards, based on objectives 1 & 2.
Two-day in-person workshop with select representatives from industry, academia, and peak bodies to review existing standards, highlight barriers to industry adoption and discuss each potential alternative standard guided by objectives 1, 2 & 3.
Consultation with legal expert on the proposed standards framework, as required.
Discussion of the draft standards framework with the largest Australian chicken meat producers.
First full draft of alternative standards, guidelines and auditable requirements, including Steering Committee review.
Series of three online, mediated stakeholder forums to present the draft standards and collate feedback based on online surveys conducted during and after each forum.
Presentation of the draft standards to key industry and consumer groups.
Draft recommended governance structure and auditing processes for standards within a monitoring and evaluation report, with Steering Committee review.
Draft high-level assessment of the likely impact of commercial implementation of the standards, with Steering Committee review.
Final alternative standards, guidelines and auditable requirements based on collated stakeholder feedback, with Steering Committee review.
Gap analysis of the standards to highlight areas of likely high future animal welfare risk to ensure efficient revision in future versions.
Promotion of alternative industry welfare standards on ACMF website.