Gert Jan Oplaat: Poultry meat on every table in Europe

AVEC is the voice of Europe’s poultry meat sector. Newly elected president Gert Jan Oplaat strongly advocates the value of poultry meat and getting it on every table of European families. “My goal is to tackle an array of challenges. In particular bridging the gap with the “Brussels bubble.”

Since last September, Gert Jan Oplaat from The Netherlands is the new president of AVEC, the Association of Poultry Processors and Poultry Trade in the EU. During the annual assembly in Riga, Lithuania, he was elected to succeed Paul Lopez from France who has been AVEC president since 2014.

“Poultry meat is superb food”, says Gert Jan. “And I believe that getting it on every table is possible. In my speech, addressing the audience at the summit in Riga, I highlighted the many benefits of poultry meat. In theory, poultry meat should be within reach for everybody. It is easily and quickly to produce and it is affordable. Moreover, it originates from chicken which has the lowest feed conversation ratio (FCR), compared to other kinds of animals.

Not just that, poultry meat can be on the menu everywhere as it has not any religious limitation. Apart from the “vegan religion” of course..”, Gert Jan adds.

“At this moment, poultry has surpassed pork already in meat consumption globally”, he continues. “In The Netherlands, annual poultry consumption per capita is 22 kilograms, like it is in Asia. In the USA, poultry consumption is no less than 51 kilograms per capita!

Yet, although affordable, poultry meat is still not accessible for everyone. We must realize that in today’s modern world, still many people are malnourished.

Currently, the world population counts by around 7 billion people and this number is forecast to grow up to 10 billion in the year 2050. With major cities (in primarily Asia) of up to 50 million citizens! At the

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