Broiler Chicken Welfare Assessment in GLOBALGAP-certified and Non-certified Farms in Brazil
Broiler producers in Brazil are achieving good standards of welfare for their birds, regardless of whether they participate in an international certification scheme, according to a new study.
16 March 2015
2 minute read
By: Brazil is the third largest producer and the leading chicken meat exporter in the world, according to Carla Molento and colleagues at the Federal University of Paraná in Brazil.
In a paper in Animal Welfare recently, they observe that independent certification is required by some importers in the European Union (EU) to guarantee compliance with minimum welfare requirements.
The objective of their research was to compare broiler chicken welfare in GLOBALGAP® certified (C) and non-certified (N) intensive farms in the State of Paraná, Brazil, using the Welfare Quality® protocol.
They evaluated 10 farms in each group and data were transformed using scores that ranged from 0 to 100, where 100 is the best condition.
Molento and colleagues report their results suggest that farms adhered to minimum welfare standards, regardless of certification and that the adoption of standards based on overseas rules may have limitations for the improvement of animal welfare.
They added that, in order to improve broiler welfare in Brazil further, more rigorous standards should be developed.
Reference
Souza A.P.O., E.C. de Oliveira Sans, B.R. Müller and C.F.M. Molento. 2015. Broiler chicken welfare assessment in GLOBALGAP® certified and noncertified farms in Brazil. Animal Welfare. 24:45-54. doi: 10.7120/09627286.24.1.045
March 2015
