Animal welfare must not be limited to food retailing
The German poultry industry welcomes the invitation from Federal Minister Julia Klöckner to the constitutive meeting of the Livestock Farming Competence Network on April 1, 2019. ZDG President Friedrich-Otto Ripke will take part in this consultation.
Clear goal of the BMEL livestock strategy: preservation of German livestock farming
The content of the poultry industry's position was coordinated at yesterday's meeting of the Executive Committee of the Central Association of the German Poultry Industry (ZDG) with a clear message to Federal Minister Klöckner: "Germany is at a crossroads when it comes to livestock farming. A German livestock strategy must maintain the European and international competitiveness and sustainability of the poultry industry," said ZDG President Friedrich-Otto Ripke.
Poultry farming calls for all marketing channels to be included
The top committee of the umbrella organization of the German poultry industry sees the urgent need for the livestock strategy to also seriously deal with out-of-home consumption. More than 60% of the per capita consumption of poultry meat – and the trend is rising – is not based on purchases from food retailers. Away from the food retail trade with the labeling on the product given there, there is almost total opacity in canteens, restaurants and snack bars, which represents a gateway for meat of unknown origin and unrecognizable production standard. "For out-of-home consumption, we need an indication of origin and type of husbandry analogous to the systems practiced in food retailing,” demands Ripke.
Broad instead of niche in the livestock strategy in the sense of including all marketing channels - from the point of view of the poultry industry, this is the right strategic approach when creating reasonable framework conditions for economically feasible and equally animal and environmentally friendly egg and poultry meat production in Germany.
German Council Presidency 2020: Adopt the EU Turkey Farming Directive.
The position of the poultry industry in terms of turkey husbandry is similarly clear: "The German Council Presidency in the second half of 2020 must pass an EU turkey husbandry guideline based on the tried and tested uniform nationwide benchmarks", pleads ZDG President Friedrich‐Otto Ripke. Here the federal government can position itself as a pioneer of high animal welfare standards in the EU: The EU hen husbandry directive and the EU directives on broiler chickens and pig husbandry were also passed under the German Council Presidency.
"We would like a clear message from the Livestock Husbandry Competence Group to support Federal Minister Klöckner in launching an EU directive on turkey husbandry during her Council Presidency in Brussels.", Ripke describes the vote of the ZDG Executive Committee.
About the ZDG
The Central Association of the German Poultry Industry eV represents the interests of the German poultry industry at federal and EU level as a professional umbrella and umbrella organization vis-à-vis political, official and professional organisations, the public and abroad. The approximately 8.000 members are organized in federal and state associations.
