The living lab activity planned on the INTAQT project to be carried out on the Italian chicken’s farms was organized through a participatory approach by involving different stakeholders of the food supply chain. The first meeting was organized in person in November 2023 by the University of Perugia, University of Bologna and University of Padua in “Rocca di Casalina”, a historical location in Umbria property of “Fondazione dell’Istruzione Agraria” Perugia, used since the XVI century as an education center with the purpose to train young students in agriculture.

The meeting was attended by different actors from the food supply chain such as Amadori group as INTAQT partner and one of the most important poultry meat producers in Italy, large scale retail distribution managers, employees of a certification agency of food process (i.e. organic label), researchers with expertise on poultry meat quality and consumers of animal origin products.

These different actors were involved in a focus group activity with the aim to express their opinion concerning “the environmental sustainability and animal welfare in the organic production of chicken meat”. This issue triggered an animate discussion and as regards the environmental sustainability, the main key words that emerged were: “responsible consumption”, “management of the outdoor area”, “use of renewable energy”. Whereas, the most important key words related to animal welfare were “farmer formation”, “farms’ structures” and “use of a suitable genotype”. This working day was fundamental for Amadori group and the Universities responsible for the INTAQT Living Lab activity to better understand the prospective of different food supply chain actors concerning the alternative rearing system. Accordingly, the aim of the living lab was to propose on farm changes in order to improve the intrinsic meat quality characteristics.

The day was concluded by a visit on the experimental farm of the “Fondazione dell’Istruzione Agraria” Perugia, that in collaboration with University of Perugia were running a trial on the use of different technological devices to improve and monitor the welfare of chickens raised in a free-range system!