Celebrity chef Manu Feildel has descended on South-East Queensland's food bowl to see first-hand where some of our favourite Ingham's poultry products come from.
Flying into Brisbane this week (Monday 18 March, 2024), Manu Feildel explored the provenance of some of our nation's favourite chicken products, touring leading poultry producer Ingham's greater-Brisbane free range farm and chicken-processing and product-creation factory, Murarrie Primary Processing Plant.
Manu said: "I love discovering where food comes from. I have visited many farms, but this was the first time I've visited a commercial-level poultry farm, and it was wonderful to see the high level of care provided to the chooks. It was incredibly interesting going behind the scenes to see how chooks become the many products we can easily buy at the supermarket as well. As a chef, I'm very familiar with deboning, filleting, crumbing and the like, but to see how this is achieved on a large scale while ensuring consistency and quality was fascinating."
Greater Brisbane Free Range Chicken Farm, SE Queensland has been producing chickens for Ingham's for almost 50 years. Set on 130 acres of rolling green hills, the tree-studded acreage is alive with native fauna and flora as well as the sights and sounds of healthy, well-cared for broilers (meat-chickens). Manu met Farmer Grant, who has owned and managed the free-range farm for 11 years, after he and his wife, Lucy, bought the business, to uncover what poultry farming is all about.
Walking across the free-range field, Manu enjoyed the beauty of the farm, taking in the lush vegetation where chickens were foraging for bugs and worms, others resting in the shade of the plentiful trees or feeling the warmth of the sun on their feathers.
"Our chooks are protected from predators while free ranging by quality fencing and supervision, and at night or in bad weather, they take shelter in our poultry sheds," explained Farmer Grant.
Inside the state of the art, climate-controlled poultry-sheds - which protect chickens against hot summers, cold winters, predators, and disease - Manu was impressed to see the space chickens have to move around, dry, friable litter and perches to foster natural behaviours, enrichment objects to encourage exploration, and the free access chooks have to automatic feed systems and water lines.
"The RSPCA Approved Standard for Meat Chickens includes over 300 requirements for poultry raised in sheds – which are independently assessed by specially trained RSPCA Assessors – and we are proud that we meet these in order to achieve RSPCA Approved certification," said Farmer Grant.
Murarrie Primary Processing Plant in the Brisbane suburb of Murarrie has been operating since 2001 and employs over 1300 people. The plant produces chicken products for Ingham's, processing poultry to create the wide range of Ingham's chicken products we can buy on the supermarket shelves, or enjoy at pubs, clubs, restaurants, cafes, and fast-food outlets. These include whole chickens, wings and thighs, marinated breast fillets, boneless split birds, split birds and kebabs.
Safe food practices are front and centre at Murarrie Primary Processing Plant, and Manu took part in an induction before heading behind the scenes, fully kitted out in his food processing PPE. Manu toured the processing floors meeting the teams at work and watching, often amazed, at the many processes and automations, as well as the hands-on work, all focused on producing consistency and quality - from plucking to deboning, filleting to mincing, moulding to crumbing, and packing.
Ingham's General Manager of Murarrie, Brenton, was part of the team leading Manu through Murarrie Primary Processing Plant. Brenton said: "It was an absolute pleasure to take Manu through our plant, which is widely recognised as a leader in the areas of quality and sustainability in primary processing, as well as being a major employer for Brisbane."
Manu Feildel teamed up with Ingham's last year to present Ingham's Dinner Done – creating a series of quick, easy, and delicious recipes cooking with poultry. This year, Manu is diving deeper into the poultry industry, to see first-hand how some of our nation's favourite poultry products are made.
