THE FIRST SUSTAINABLE EUROPEAN POULTRY MEAT PROMOTION CAMPAIGN SUPPORTED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION GETS UNDERWAY

The European poultry meat promotion campaign focused on sustainability, the first of its kind to be launched in our country, has been launched. The initiative has been made possible thanks to the cooperation of the national poultry associations of Germany, France and Spain, and their umbrella association, AVEC (the European Poultry Association), which is based in Belgium. The campaign is also supported by the European Research Executive Agency (REA) of the European Commission.

The Spanish Interprofessional Association of Poultry Meat (AVIANZA) will be responsible for developing and implementing all the necessary actions to materialize the campaign in Spain, which will last for two years. Under the slogan "European poultry meat, your smart choice", AVIANZA wants to make consumers aware of the sustainability of the European poultry sector and the high quality of its product.

As Antonio Sánchez, president of Avianza, pointed out during the presentation of the campaign to the media at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, "our country feels that livestock farming, healthy eating and commitment to sustainability are part of the Spain brand. And that sustainability applied to the poultry sector makes us work every day and for many years so that our activity is environmentally, economically and socially responsible".

Sustainability and quality, the central themes of the campaign

With this campaign, its promoters want to show consumers how the poultry sector applies sustainability in all its processes to be more efficient at all levels. With regard to the environmental field, in Europe, a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of up to 15% has been achieved, thanks to a better use of natural sources, feed and improved breeding systems. In this way, the feed needed to feed each animal has been optimized, avoiding waste, and the land needed to produce this feed has been reduced by 37%.

In relation to the social and economic sphere, this sector generates more than 370,000 jobs in Europe, 40,000 of them in Spain. It should also be noted that it promotes rural employment, since in the European Union poultry, both intensive and extensive production, is raised in 25,000 family farms, most of them run by women, thus also promoting gender equality and avoiding territorial imbalance.

And, in addition to sustainability, quality is another of the hallmarks of European poultry meat. "The poultry sector is characterized by guaranteeing animal welfare and food safety, which, together with sustainability, means that households receive a top-quality product," added Sánchez during his speech. As Jordi Monfort, secretary general of AVIANZA, indicated during the presentation, to show all this, "we will launch several actions that in a first phase will focus on institutional videos and spots adapted for television".

During the presentation of the campaign, a colloquium was also held with the participation of Carlos Garcés, president of the Spanish Association of Poultry Science, and Sergio Fernández Guerrero, chef and professor at the Escuela Superior de Hostelería y Turismo de Madrid, who showed how sustainability is present throughout the poultry meat production process and reaches the catering industry.

Purificación González Camacho, Deputy Director General for the Promotion of Alimentos de España, was in charge of closing the presentation and declaring the promotional campaign formally inaugurated.