Gruppo Fileni, one of Italy's leading poultry meat producers, has extended its commitment to broiler welfare by adopting the European Chicken Commitment criteria across 100% of its own-brand products.

Since 2021, Fileni has been dedicated to improving broiler welfare by converting all its organic, free-range, and a proportion of its conventional production to meet the ECC criteria by 2026. The company has announced a significant milestone: starting next week, all Fileni-branded chicken products on the shelves will comply with the European Chicken Commitment's improved welfare criteria.

Over the past few years, Fileni has consistently updated its progress towards fulfilling its commitment to broiler welfare, reporting annual progress and diligently working behind the scenes to implement the outstanding criteria. ECC-compliant products, which include the use of slower-growing breeds, maximum stocking densities of 30kg/m2, environmental enrichment and natural light, as well as the adoption of more humane stunning methods for chickens, will also undergo third-party audits to ensure compliance.

In the absence of a readily available ECC certification in Italy, Gruppo Fileni has partnered with Compassion in World Farming and the certification body QC-Bureau Veritas to develop a comprehensive audit protocol, which will be used to independently verify compliance with the ECC criteria, ensuring transparency with accountability to the commitments made.

Alongside this announcement, Fileni unveiled its new brand identity, which includes a new logo and label. These labels feature the “Committed to Better Chicken” visual identity, launched by Compassion at the 2023 Broiler Forum. This visual identity will help consumers making informed purchasing decisions.

Bianca Furlotti, Food Business Manager for Compassion in Italy, commented:

We congratulate Fileni for successfully implementing the European Chicken Commitment criteria across all its fresh, frozen, processed and ingredient chicken products, ensuring access to higher welfare products for both business customers and consumers. We will continue to collaborate with the entire food sector so that Fileni's example can be followed by more companies, to improve the minimum welfare standards for the millions of chickens raised in our country.

Fileni Group Strengthens Commitment to Higher Broiler Welfare Standards