A New Roadmap for Poultry Welfare
/filters:strip_icc()/filters:format(jpeg)/filters:background_color(fff)/filters:quality(60)/fit-in/1500x0/2023/10/13/13/16/53/889ae81a-71eb-4839-b0a8-fb725460e04b/Applegate Better Chicken Commitment-Blog.jpg)
By: Applegate
October 13, 2023
For more than 30 years, Applegate has been dedicated to improving and improving transparency in animal welfare. It’s part of our mission: Changing The Meat We Eat® And it’s why we support the Better Chicken Commitment.
What is the Better Chicken Commitment? It’s an initiative that brings together a wide range of industry leaders to set a high bar for, among other things, litter, lighting, enrichments, space per bird and slaughter methods. It also advocates for slower growing breeds. We announced our support of the Better Chicken Commitment in 2016, and have already made much progress. Here is the detailed roadmap we intend to follow. Because we are committed to transparency, we will publicly report annual progress and adjust this roadmap as needed based on that progress.
Applegate’s Five-Year Progress Plan:
2023* |
2024* |
2025* |
2026* |
2027* |
2028* |
|
Stocking Density |
100% | |||||
Environment - Litter |
100% | |||||
Environment - Lighting |
100% | |||||
Environment - Enrichments |
100% | |||||
CAS |
50%** | Implement 3rd party remote video auditing in all Applegate slaughter facilities throughout slaughter processing | Measure Animal Welfare Outcomes (AWO) in all plants and administer corrective actions if necessary. Discontinuation with noncompliant suppliers. | |||
| 50-75%** | 75-100%** | 100%** | ||||
Breeds |
10%** | Partner with breeders and researchers on developing breeds that meet Applegate mission standards. Pilot breeds at scale and measure against mission standards. Continuously improve AWO of all breeds in use. | ||||
|
10-20%** Evaluate all current Applegate breeds and commercially viable BCC approved breeds against Applegate mission standards. Develop list of Applegate preferred breeds. |
20-45%** | 45-60%** | 60-100%** |
100%**
Research alternative feed rations and other environmental mitigation solutions for impact on product quality, human health & environmental impacts. |
||
*By end of year
**Percentages reflected are of total volume. However, this could fluctuate on what is available from suppliers and our current demand.
/filters:strip_icc()/filters:quality(60)/fit-in/800x0/2019/03/27/14/02/31/ea1a9dab-078e-44e2-928d-6d9e9b0446e8/applegate.png)
Applegate
Changing The Meat We Eat®: Natural & Organic - No antibiotics, growth hormones, artificial ingredients or chemical nitrites - Humanely Raised - Gluten Free