The National Chicken Council (NCC) released an inaugural sustainability report on September 15. The report recognizes the broiler industry’s collective progress in its environmental, broiler welfare and social impact goals, as well as identifies opportunities for future growth.
“The U.S. chicken industry is committed to environmentally and socially sustainable production practices to ensure a healthier planet. This report is the culmination of that commitment, but it is also the starting point for many more years of collective effort by the U.S. chicken industry to continuously improve and build a more sustainable food system,” said Mike Brown, NCC president.
"This past year, we faced COVID-19, extreme weather events, biosecurity issues and cybersecurity breaches. The U.S. chicken industry stood up to all of these challenges, and we remain even more committed to the sustainable production of America’s No. 1 protein.”
The term sustainability is has transformed into more than just the environmental impact of a product for many consumers. It now also encompasses animal welfare, social and other issues.
Highlights of the report
The 2020 U.S. Broiler Chicken Industry Sustainability Report addresses six essential industry topics: air, land and water, broiler health and welfare, employee health and well-being, food and consumer safety, community support and food security. An infographic displaying important data from the report provides an eye-catching way to share information with journalists, consumers and others.
Highlights of the report include these key achievements achieved by the broiler industry between 2010 and 2020:
- Land use: down 13%
- Greenhouse gas emissions (carbon footprint): down 18%
- Water consumption: down 13%
- Fossil resources use: down 22%
- Particulate forming emissions: down 22%
Other notable accomplishments are:
- Decreasing broiler chicken on-farm mortality rates by 72% since 1925.
- Defining the essential elements of broiler chicken care with NCC’s Welfare Guidelines.
- Donating more than $133 million and 20 million meals to local communities at the height of the pandemic in 2020.
- Bolstering global food security with broiler exports totaling 7.4 billion pounds in 2020.
- Providing Americans and people across the world – throughout all life stages – with affordable, nutritious protein.
- Achieving an 86% decline in Occupational Safety and Health Administration recordable injuries and illnesses in the poultry processing sector over the past 25 years.
The report complements work from the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs (US-RSPE), which includes the development of a framework to drive improvements, further innovation and support communication about the sustainability of the poultry industry.
The report was submitted to the Scientific Group of the U.N. Food Systems Summit, ahead of the U.N. Food Systems Summit scheduled for September 23 in New York City.
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