Australian Chicken Meat Federation (ACMF) on October 29 hosted a tour of a chicken farm in Peats Ridge, New South Wales, as part of the ongoing education drive aimed at better informing the public about how broilers are farmed.
Dr. Andreas Dubs, executive director of ACMF said: “Our tours, arranged two to three times a year, are designed to give attendees such as journalists, nutritionists, bloggers, and teachers, a first-hand experience of the processes involved in getting chicken from the farm to the plate and to speak with a range of experts from the industry. We also aim to address a lot of commonly held misconceptions on the day.”
Those on the half-day tour experienced first-hand what it is like inside a chicken shed, heard from the farmer about his role in raising and caring for his chickens and learned more about issues of importance to the industry such as animal welfare, food safety and environmental impacts.
“Biosecurity is extremely important,” said Dubs. “The health and well-being of the birds at the farm depends on it. All attendees are required to wear protective clothing, disinfect shoes in a footbath and wash hands before entering the sheds on the farm. Logistics of hosting such a tour takes careful planning, to ensure all biosecurity requirements are adhered to, but we believe the tour is an important step in educating the public more broadly about industry farming practices.”
“The industry continues to proactively tell its story, and set the facts straight. The opportunity to host these tours and be transparent about what happens on the farm is invaluable,” concluded Dubs.
