Page 2 - National Poultry Newspaper

Queensland is our biggest commercial egg producer
Poultry Industry Calendar of Events
2022
MAR 30 - APR 1 – 7th International Conference on Poultry Intestinal Health, Columbia, www.ihsig.com
MAY 10-11 – British Pig & Poultry Fair, Stoneleigh UK, pigandpoultry.org.uk
MAY 15-17 – Poultry Information Exchange and Australasian Milling Conference (PIX/AMC), www.pixamc. com.au
MAY 31 - JUN 2 – VIV Europe 2022, Netherlands, viveurope.nl
NOV 6-10 – SIMA Paris, France, en.simaonline.com
NOV 8-10 – European Symposium on Poultry Genetics, Hannover Germany, www.espg2022.org
2023
SEP 4-8 – Congress of the World Veterinary Poultry Association, Verona Italy, www.wvpac2021.com
How to supply event details: Send all details to National Poultry Newspaper, PO Box 162, Wynnum Qld 4178, call 07 3286 1833 or email: design@collins.media
poultrynews.com.au
07 3286 1833
THE past year has seen a lot of changes in the Australian commercial egg sector.
Queensland has emerged as the nation’s largest egg producer – housing 35 per- cent of the national laying flock.
Though only the third largest state by population, the ‘sunshine state’ has rocketed up the statistical queue to overtake Victoria and NSW to become the largest egg farming state.
farmers generate a gross farm-gate value of $881.3 million.
It is not an easy exercise to simply enter an egg farm, due to strict biosecurity rules on most properties.
In response to a move by major supermarkets to re- move cage eggs from their shelves by 2025, we have seen a nationwide flurry of expansion into free range and barn laid egg infra- structure.
If you take this figure and combine it with the total value of eggs sold through the nation’s four big su- permarket chains, up to $2 billion is injected into Aus- tralia’s economy each year through egg farming and egg sales.
In the majority of cases, visitors need to:
The most recent ABS fig- ures at the end of 2021, show Queensland now has the largest laying flock at 35 percent, followed by NSW and the ACT at 30 percent and Victoria at 19 percent.
• Make a call to notify the farm of their arrival at the site
Smaller flocks are found in WA at 8 percent, SA at 5 percent and TAS at 3 percent.
And while there are no easy solutions, the indus- try continues to reduce the risk of disease through in- creased biosecurity meas- ures.
•Provide evidence of COVID vaccinations
At a national level, Aus- tralia’s entire commercial laying flock has reached 21.9 million hens.
• Go through a wash sys- tem and put on required personal protective equip- ment.
Combined, there are 29.1 million pullets and layers.
Given the egg industry has weathered salmonella enteritidis and avian influ- enza, industry biosecurity measures were high when COVID-19 hit.
All this must occur before you even think of entering the grading floor.
Our egg farmers produce about 17.9 million eggs a day or 6.2 billion eggs a year.
Our hard-working farm- ers have set high standards to reduce disease risks.
This equates to 525.2 mil- lion cartons of a dozen eggs annually.
If you are an egg farmer, there are plenty of SE and AI materials available to help you plan for such an event and heighten your biosecurity measures.
This is something that should be reassuring to Aussie egg consumers.
These are produced most- ly on family-run farms.
On average, each Austral- ian consumes 249 eggs a year.
Our 528 commercial egg
Check them out at australianeggs.org.au
That is 14.4kg of eggs... per person!
by MELINDA HASHIMOTO CEO
Current challenges fac- ing the egg industry include labour hire issues, rising input costs and the risk of disease.
• Fill out the required on- farm biosecurity forms – to ensure a visitor has not been near any wild birds or passed through another egg farm in the previous two weeks
Queensland now has the largest laying flock at 35 percent.
HAVE YOUR SAY!
All producers are encouraged
to send in letters to be published in NPN, outlining any concerns
or issues they may have with the industry.
This is an open forum where you can cover any topic, whether for or against an issue.
Please send your letters to: editorial@collins.media or PO Box 162, Wynnum Qld 4178
Terminology such as ‘beef’, ‘chicken’ and ‘pork’ and imagery of animals should not be used on the packaging and in the marketing of plant- based protein, as per the findings of a Senate inquiry.
Label law overhaul for plant proteins
TERMINOLOGY such as ‘beef’, ‘chick- en’ and ‘pork’ and imagery of animals should not be used on the packaging and in the marketing of plant-based protein, as per the finding of a Senate inquiry.
“Australian pulse and veggie farmers can tap into the plant-protein market, so it makes no sense for people to frame this inquiry as somehow wanting to cripple that industry or attack vegans and vegetarians,” Senator McDonald said.
The Senate inquiry investigating the la- belling of non-animal protein in the meat and dairy sectors since June 2021 and led by Queensland Na- tionals Senator Susan McDonald, handed down its final report on February 24.
“All we're suggesting is that protein market- ers come up with ways to promote their prod- ucts without trading on animal names and imagery.”
The inquiry made nine recommenda- tions, including the es- tablishment of a regu- latory framework for labelling the products in question and the de- velopment of a nation- al standard to restrict the use of ‘meat’ ver- nacular to only animal protein products.
“When that eventu- ally hits the market, it needs to be clearly discernible from meat grown in a paddock, so we are recommend- ing the government get involved now in regulating meat defi- nitions.”
“We are advising that a current review being undertaken of the Food Standards Australia New Zea- land Act also include reversing its allow- ance of plant proteins and non-dairy milks to use animal descrip- tors,” Senator McDon- ald said in a statement.
As the new protein category in Australia expands from plant- based to cultured – trialling in Japan and others – and blended animal and plant pro- teins, Australia has an opportunity to iden- tify the best regulator – health, consumer or other – and manda- tory labelling require- ments.
“We also recom- mend that the Aus- tralian Competition and Consumer Com- mission act on con- cerns plant proteins are placed too close to animal proteins in stores.”
Categories such as organic and free range may also be seeking greater clarity on la- belling claims.
The report also rec- ommended supporting the emerging plant- protein industry.
It is important that there is a national standard that aligns with mandatory ex- port standards found in existing legislation.
The growth of new protein categories such as plant-based, cultured and blended animal and plant- based proteins are rec- ognised as providing consumers with new sources of protein.
The alignment be- tween domestic and international stand- ards will provide all stakeholders with clear guidance and enforcement via the ACCC, which has the powers and resources to address improper labelling and market- ing practices.
An increasing world population, and pres- sure on arable farm- ing land by encroach- ing urban zoning, are competing needs that are in part addressed by manufactured pro- teins.
Domestic labelling guidelines are impor- tant to protect the ex- isting and significant export market, which has clear definitions of meat, and to protect the new protein mar- ket.
“The same goes for cultured meat.
National biosecurity strategy
THE Australian, state and territory govern- ments, through the National Biosecurity Committee, are devel- oping a national bios- ecurity strategy with key partners to provide a strategic direction for the Australian biosecu- rity system through to 2030.
action and investment. This will ensure Aus- tralia’s biosecurity sys- tem remains fit to meet the challenges of the
ecurity system needs to evolve, outlines priority areas and initial strate- gic actions and includes questions you may wish to consider when provid- ing feedback.
The national strategy will seek to align our collective efforts towards a common purpose and provide a clear com- mitment to prioritised
The consultation draft captures the views we’ve heard to date from in- dustry, environment, community and govern- ment stakeholders about how the national bios-
Consultation closes 5pm daylight savings time, Friday March 18, 2022.
next decade.
The national biosecu-
To have your say, read the consultation draft and take the survey.
rity strategy consultation draft has been released for feedback and com- ment.
Register your interest at haveyoursay.awe.gov. au/national-biosecurity- strategy
NATIONAL
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Page 2 – National Poultry Newspaper, March 2022
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