The mEATquality project is project funded by the European Union (2022-2026). The aim of mEATquality is to link extensive husbandry practices to the intrinsic quality of pork and broiler meat. Regarding good practices for broiler housing, the mEATquality consortium published several factsheets and videos for dissemination.

In conventional intensive broiler production fast growing breeds with a daily growth of 50 – 55 grammes are common. In organic agriculture (EU 2018/848) fast growing breeds have a minimum slaughter age of 81 days. So called “slow growing” breeds are used in these systems, as normal breeds would become too big too early, which may result in major health issues. There is no common definition of slow growing in the EU member states, but there are various slow growing broiler breeds available for various free-range systems.