Page 8 - National Poultry Newspaper

ACMF recently launched a new website to help educate consumers on the facts behind Australian chicken meat production in a simple and clear tone.
Chicken consumption increases despite myths
The Non-intentional Farm Related Inci- dents in Australia 2020 report compiled by AgriFutures Aus- tralia and AgHealth showed a total of 58 on-farm deaths were reported by the media during the period Jan- uary 1 to December 31, 2020 – 16 of which were in Queensland.
“We believe signifi- cant improvements could be made by im- plementing a govern- ment co-funded grants program in Queens- land, supporting safe- ty improvements such as installing crush protection devices on quad bikes, upgrading switchboards, fitting powerline markers, raising the height of distribution lines, de- vices to boost mobile phone coverage for remote workers and training.”
THE data is in... chick- en meat consumption is on the rise again.
cluding fish and seafood – consumed in Australia.
survey respondents said that antibiotics are used to increase the growth rate of meat chickens.
production in a simple and clear tone.
money and flavour
• More consumers –
On March 2, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics released updated statistics on Australia’s agricultural commodities – including forecasts for commod- ity production in 2020- 21 and five-year forward projections – and chicken meat has retained, in fact improved, its position as Australia’s favourite meat!
Surprisingly, while the popularity of chicken re- mains strong, so do sev- eral long-held myths and misconceptions about Australia’s chicken meat industry.
Conversely, only 18 per- cent of consumers sur- veyed correctly believed that meat chickens are raised without cages.
ACMF has also been actively debunking myths on its Twitter and Linked- in platforms, using a range of new assets such as in- fographics, motion graph- ics and its popular Chook Chat blog.
37 percent – indicated increasing rather than decreasing – 8 percent – their consumption of chicken meat in the past 12 months, with price and ease of preparation the main reasons for increas- ing consumption
QFF chief executive officer Dr Georgina Davis said agriculture was one of the most dangerous sectors to work in due to the combination of haz- ards, including heavy plant and machinery, chemicals, noise, dust, sun and heat exposure, working with animals, alone or in remote lo- cations.
“A similar scheme is already operating successfully in NSW and we appeal to the Queensland Govern- ment to take a com- mon-sense approach to addressing risk and ensuring the safety of our farmers at work.”
In 2020-21, ABARES forecasts Australians will consume approximately 46.4kg per person, rising to 46.9kg in 2021-22.
Conducted by AgriFu- tures, the research found that, while there has been a positive shift in con- sumer understanding, 40 percent of consumers in- correctly believe that hor- mones and steroids can be used.
To address these myths, Australian Chicken Meat Federation has recently launched a new website at facts.chicken.org.au/ – which educates consum- ers on the facts behind Australian chicken meat
Other valuable findings from the research include: • Chicken meat contin- ues to be the preferred protein for most Austral- ian consumers because of its convenience, value for
A summary of the re- search is available through AgriFutures, agrifutures. com.au
“Safety is a seri- ous consideration on Queensland farms to ensure farmers, work-
“Reducing farm fa- talities requires sig- nificant investment of energy, capital and hu- man resources, but we have many opportuni- ties and we must make the most of them.”
That accounts for 46 percent of all meat – ex-
A round 12 percent of
Page 8 – National Poultry Newspaper, April 2021
www.poultrynews.com.au
In fact, new research tells us that many of these misperceptions have not shifted in the last decade!
Similar research was conducted in 2008, and the most recent report shows that consumer belief in these myths re- mains.
In addition, AgriFutures conducted a media rela- tions campaign based on this research, and pro- duced myth-busting con- tent for its social channels.
• Price is the main pur- chase driver for the av- erage Australian chicken meat shopper, though con- sumers are paying more attention to on-package labelling information on chicken meat products.
QFF calls on State Government to consider farm safety opportunities
THE Queensland Farmers’ Federa- tion is calling on the State Government to implement co- funding opportuni- ties for farmers and other businesses to undertake a range of safety improvements after new statistics showed Queensland had one of the high- est numbers of on- farm deaths in the country.
ers and other people on farm are not ex- posed to risks to their health and safety, and QFF remains commit- ted to promoting and advancing safe work- places to turn these statistics around,” Dr Davis said.