Recommendations from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to improve the welfare of poultry could result in a fourfold increase in costs for farmers in that sector.
That’s according to the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), which is calling for a full impact assessment of such measures.
The recommendations were published by the EFSA as part of an ongoing EU revision of animal welfare legislation.
This process is due to be completed by the end of this year.
Nigel Sweetnam, the IFA’s poultry chairperson, has warned that the proposals from the EFSA, which apply to both broilers and laying hens, have the potential to drastically increase costs for producers.
Speaking this morning (Friday, May 19), Sweetnam said: “The recommendations from the EFSA are on welfare alone. Full impact assessments must be completed on the environmental and financial sustainability of these recommendations.
“The proposals would mean the quadrupling of the energy requirements and the doubling of feed. This could result in a 2kg chicken costing €25 to the consumer,” he added.
“Poultry has risen in price, reflecting the huge increases in the cost of production. However, this follows a 20-year period where chicken and eggs declined in price.”
The IFA poultry chair called for consideration of the cost implications of the proposed measures.
“This has the potential to decimate our poultry industry in Ireland, but also in the EU. It will open us up to more imported chicken from outside the EU, where we have no control over how the birds are farmed,” Sweetnam commented.
He added: “If retailers or the EU want to drive this initiative, they must be made aware that the sector’s survival is hanging on a knife edge if these recommendations were to be implemented.
“Farm families and livelihoods are at risk and so too is the future of our food security,” the IFA representative added.
EFSA recommendations
For laying hens, the EFSA recommended that birds should be housed in cage-free systems, and protocols to measure welfare traits should be defined.
Flocks should be housed with easily accessible elevated platforms and/or perches to allow simultaneous resting for all birds, and to enable birds to avoid each other.
In layer breeders, the proportion of males to females should be less than 1:10, and male birds should be selected for reduced aggression.
For broilers, the EFSA recommends that the growth rate of broilers should be limited to 50g/day. As well as that, stocking density should be “substantially reduced”.
Broilers should also be housed in cage-free systems. Ammonia concentration in the barn should be limited to 15 parts per million (ppm).
Fertilised eggs should be transported instead of day-old chicks.