It is tragic, but inevitable: living beings can only survive by feeding on other living organisms.
Based on this indisputable premise (although there will always be some who convince themselves of the contrary) we can try to understand the meaning of the battles of all those organisations committed to the defence of animals. Above all, it must be made clear that the human race must eat in order to survive, and that breeding or cultivating are the only ways for ‘sapiens’ to feed themselves. Above all, because food needs affect billions of people who would starve to death if there were not others acting to produce and ensure the constant availability of food for as many people as possible.
Organisations that often communicate on the subject of livestock and animal welfare talk about it as if their goal is to shut down livestock farms bit by bit. They do this by criticising first one aspect, then another, claiming that serious things happen on those farms and calling for action on the quality of life of the animals themselves. They affirm that their actions are geared towards stimulating government intervention on farms so that laws are passed to determine their (their) predetermined attentions.
More About Chicken has been following the poultry issue for some time in order to delve into the issues that the sector generates, but also because poultry farming worldwide provides quality, low-cost and ‘easy’ nutrition compared to others.
M.A.C.’s interest in poultry farming has also grown because the quest for animal welfare is constant in this sector, despite animal welfare and environmental associations generally saying otherwise.
In fact, the quest for animal welfare in the professional poultry sector is not only already present, but is even exasperated.
Yet the various detractors of animal husbandry continue to describe farms as places of suffering… and on this assumption demand that governments, companies and ordinary people consider their documents as ‘truth about farms’.
Let us remember that farmed animals are directly or indirectly intended to provide us with food. And like any other food we eat, we have to consider a stark but unavoidable fact: what we eat, whether animal or vegetable, was alive before it entered our plates.
All living things can only survive by feeding on other living organisms, which were alive before they became their food. This applies to both animals and plants, albeit in different ways, forms and times.
In poultry farming, animal welfare is a mantra linked to the need for farmers to be able to rely on healthy animals that they would otherwise not be able to introduce into the human food chain.
Animal welfare for farmers is a constantly pursued objective that becomes a guarantee for consumers.
However, it cannot be denied that there are delinquents, uncodified and out-of-control entities that we unfortunately find in every sector.
Organised poultry farming (which has been in operation for around 70 years) independently pursues paths with institutions, consumers and all players in the supply chain to constantly improve animal welfare, food quality and safety, and the sustainability of production processes.
Those involved in communication, inside and outside companies, should take these things seriously, in order to produce communication worthy of the name.
The editorial staff of M.A.C.
