A new reporting framework from the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs (US-RSPE) could help the poultry industry better educate consumers about the environmental impact of the egg supply chain.
“We equip the egg supply chain to communicate their sustainability story and give a clearer picture of the overall sustainability in multiple areas of the full U.S. supply chain for egg,” said US-RSPE Executive Director Ryan Bennett.
“It will provide a clear picture of how these products are produced, starting with the grower moving through processing on through to the end user, whether that be retail or foodservice.”
Consumers, led by Gen Z and millennials, are becoming increasingly thoughtful about what they consume. This means that values like sustainability now play a larger role in purchasing decisions and could continue to impact product sales going forward.
Measuring sustainability performance
The program measures sustainability performance across 13 priority areas, with an emphasis on people, planet and poultry. These areas were identified as crucial for building trust with consumers of U.S. chicken, turkey and eggs.
“We set up the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs to be different in the way that it functions and, by that, I mean multi-stakeholder in nature. We’ve got the people raising the birds working with their integrator or processor or whomever is working with their end customer, along with suppliers and NGOs that might be focused on environmental issues that have experienced sustainability programs, all working side-by-side to come up with the framework,” Bennett explained.
The framework was announced in April and rigorously tested during a series pilot programs, including three full supply chains of turkey, chicken and eggs.
Several companies in the poultry industry as well as consumer-facing retailers and restaurants provided input, as full pilot participants and/or as expert reviewers of different metrics. Their input was focused on ensuring the US-RSPE Framework was effective and implementable including but not limited to Butterball, Cal-Maine Foods, Cargill, Darling Ingredients, Herbuck’s Poultry Ranch, Iowa Turkey Federation, Kreher’s Family Farms, McDonald’s Corporation, Peco Foods, Sanderson Farms, Tyson Foods, JBS USA, Pilgrim’s and West Liberty Foods.
The US-RSPE is currently refining the Framework with intent to launch in 2022.
Attend the 2021 Chicken Marketing Summit
For more information on the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs, attend the 2021 edition of Chicken Marketing Summit. At the Summit, Ernie Meier, director of quality for McDonald’s Corporation, will discuss the sustainability opportunities and challenges facing the poultry supply chain and ways that the Roundtable is working together to continuously improve the three focal points of sustainability; environmental, social and economic.
The 2021 Chicken Marketing Summit will be held at the Omni Amelia Island Resort in Fernandina Beach, Florida on July 18-20. This year, the conference will shine a light on what consumers will be looking for in the post-pandemic world and how poultry marketers can find success in the marketplace. Registration is now open.
For more information and to attend, visit: www.wattglobalmedia.com/chickenmarketingsummit/
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