Push for chicken to remain affordable

Lenard’s, an Australian poultry company, is working to ensure that chicken maintains its status as Australia’s most affordable protein through its “hero on the plate” concept.

The equivalent of one in five grocery bags goes to Australian food waste each year, according to Lenard Poulter, Lenard’s Founder, Owner and CEO.

Lenard’s ready-made products are designed to eliminate food waste while still giving food a “home-based” feel.

Nationally, 10 million chickens are consumed each week. This, individually, is 38 kg of chicken meat per person annually, compared with 34 kg beef, 23 kg pig (including processed products) and 14 kg lamb.

Research funded by AgriFutures Australia found that demand for chicken meat in the nation is likely to continue growing as it is relatively more affordable than other meats.

According to Wendy Umberger, Lead Researcher and Executive Director of the Centre for Global Food and Resources at the University of Adelaide, chicken also has the lowest environmental footprint of all meats.

“More than 99% of chicken meat sold in Australia is born, bred and raised in Australia, giving shoppers confidence their choice is good for them, their wallet and the environment,” Umberger said.

For chicken to remain the most popular meat, the industry needs to offer chicken meat products that are versatile and high quality with good value.

“Our priority is to ensure consumers have access to healthy and convenient chicken products, and we believe this is the key to growing overall consumption,” Poulter said.

Image credit: iStock.com/zi3000