Sustainability in the poultry industry

Thailand and Germany's poultry industries face different agro-ecological and socio-economic circumstances, as well as a variety of regional and national policies on sustainability in poultry production. Results showed that social, animal welfare and economic issues dominate the current debate on sustainable poultry production. The use of antibiotics in poultry production, the killing of male layer chicks and the role of food retailers are considered highly concerning by the German experts, whilst the Thai experts considered the outbreak of avian influenza and other highly infectious diseases, disease control in neighbouring countries, the use of antibiotics in poultry production, the contamination of meat and eggs with zoonotic microorganisms, and standards for poultry products set by import partners as the most concerning issues. The German poultry companies mainly employed reactive strategies to improve sustainability in response to pressure exerted by NGOs and animal welfare groups. In Thailand, the poultry companies proactively adopted strategies to improve their production systems due to a lack of active NGOs and animal welfare groups within this sector.