Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 7/14/16

The nation’s fourth largest poultry company is at odds with the National Chicken Council (NCC) over a proposed rule from the National Organic Program (NOP) designed to maintain a viable national organic poultry program.

Perdue Farms supports the proposal to provide broilers more room inside chicken houses, ensure sufficient pasture space with ready access to the outdoors and require husbandry practices that are said to promote natural behaviors.

"Consumers view USDA Certified Organic as the gold standard in agricultural production, and that includes animal welfare," Randy Day, chief operating officer of Perdue Farms, said in a news release. "Specific requirements for space and indoor air quality, outdoor access and enrichments that promote natural behaviors will further differentiate organic chicken from conventional production in a meaningful way, and we welcome the adoption of uniform and verifiable standards."

In its letter to the Federal Register supporting the NOP, the $7 billion company is asking that the implementation deadline for additional space be extended to three years from one year while producers expand farm space.

Meanwhile, the National Chicken Council (NCC) is pushing for revisions of key aspects of the proposed rule.

"NCC is concerned that the proposed rule imposes unreasonable costs and requirements of doubtful benefit on organic farmers, presents grave risks to animal health … and undermines ongoing international efforts to develop poultry welfare standards," wrote Ashley Peterson, NCC senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs, in comments submitted Wednesday to the USDA.

The proposed standards are assumed to increase the mortality rates for laying hens and broiler chickens to 8 percent from 5 percent — a 60 percent increase, according to NCC.

The proposed standards are also in direct opposition to Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recommendations for biosecurity, the group added. In light of the recent outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, farmers should retain the ability to make timely preventive measures to protect their flocks, according to NCC. Under the current proposed rule, a "documented occurrence of a disease in the region or relevant migratory pathway must be present before outdoor access can be restricted," but NCC argues that definitions of what constitutes a region or documented occurrence are unclear.

Perdue Foods has been raising and selling organic broiler chickens since its 2011 acquisition of Coleman Natural Foods, and it is now the largest organic-certified broiler producer in the United States.

Perdue markets organic broiler chickens through operations in Petaluma, Calif., Mount Vernon, Wash., and Milford, Del. Its Coleman Organic and Perdue Harvestland organic chicken products are distributed nationwide, and its local brands are raised and distributed in California, Washington State and Oregon.

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