The US Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs (US-RSPE) is a pre-competitive, multi-stakeholder organization focused on advancing sustainability across the entire US poultry and egg value chain. Designed to bring together diverse perspectives, its members include growers, integrators, processors, retailers, foodservice companies, allied industries and civil society organizations, each with an equal voice in shaping priorities and outcomes.
With this collaborative structure, US-RSPE serves as an independent, credible platform for aligning the industry around shared goals, using its core pillars of people, planet and poultry as a foundation. Through its mission to support, measure and communicate continuous improvement, US-RSPE helps establish a transparent, data-driven and collectively resilient supply chain, providing the framework for defining and demonstrating sustainable poultry and egg production in the US.
Framework development
The US-RSPE Sustainability Framework was originally developed to provide the poultry and egg sector with a common, science-based approach to defining and measuring sustainability across a complex value chain. Before its creation, companies and stakeholders relied on different metrics, proprietary reporting systems and issue-specific initiatives, making it difficult to communicate credible, unified progress across the industry.
As the first multi-stakeholder framework for poultry and eggs, it was designed with a holistic view of sustainability rather than as a compliance standard or audit tool. Given the complexity of sustainability, the Framework provides a practical, flexible structure to support incremental advancement across diverse operations and maturity levels.
US-RSPE designed the sustainability Framework to serve as a unifying platform to align sustainability efforts, improve transparency and build trust. The Framework also guides strategy and serves as a resource for benchmarking, informing business decisions and demonstrating measurable progress across environmental, social and animal welfare outcomes.
The 2026 Framework Report was published in January and is available on the US-RSPE website.
Multi-stakeholder involvement
The Framework reflects US-RSPE’s multi-stakeholder foundation. Representatives across the chicken, turkey and egg value chains — including growers, integrators, processors, retailers, foodservice companies, allied industries and non-governmental organizations — contributed to its development. This approach ensured that the Framework captured diverse perspectives and aligned with the operational realities of the industry.
The development process also included beta testing and structured comment periods, reinforcing its technical rigor and credibility as a tool that represents the complete value chain. The result is an inclusive framework that balances practicality and ambition and can be used by organizations at any level of sustainability maturity.
US-RSPE pillars
US-RSPE’s sustainability approach asserts that poultry and egg systems must balance environmental stewardship, social responsibility and economic viability. Thus, the Framework is organized around three interconnected pillars — Poultry, Planet and People — which provide a structure for evaluating sustainability performance across animal health and welfare, environmental impacts and human dimensions.
Within these pillars are 15 indicators that represent key areas of sustainability focus, including animal health, biosecurity, antimicrobial stewardship, energy and greenhouse gas emissions, water use, food safety, employee and well-being and community engagement. Each indicator includes specific metrics.
In total, the Framework contains 101 metrics. These metrics provide standardized questions or data points that organizations can measure and report.
The Framework is intentionally designed to be flexible, scalable and accessible. Organizations can report on the metrics they are equipped to measure and expand their measuring capability over time. Data submitted through the Framework are anonymized and aggregated, allowing companies to benchmark their performance against the broader sector while maintaining confidentiality.
This approach creates value at multiple levels: individual organizations gain insight into their sustainability performance and priorities, while the industry benefits from a broader view of sustainability trends across the poultry and egg sector.
Importantly, the Framework is designed to function as both a diagnostic and strategic tool, supporting informed decision-making, resource allocation and transparent communication of sustainability efforts. Beyond the Framework itself, US-RSPE serves as a collaborative network of sustainability professionals who support one another and advance the discipline within the poultry and egg industry. Through shared learning, best-practice exchange and convening around critical issues, the organization helps drive continued progress across the industry.
Tiered metrics
A key feature of the Framework’s structure is its tiered metric structure, allowing organizations to begin with foundational measurements and gradually advance toward more sophisticated and impactful metrics as their capabilities evolve. Metrics are grouped into three tiers: Tier 1 (entry-level), Tier 2 (achievement) and Tier 3 (advanced).
This tiered structure allows organizations to participate at different levels and expand their efforts over time. It also enables participation from organizations of varying sizes, resources and levels of sustainability maturity.
Additionally, metrics are classified as either universal or industry-specific, recognizing that some sustainability issues are common across the value chain, while others require tailored approaches for specific industry sectors.
The Framework’s structure is designed to protect the confidentiality of participating organizations while enabling sector-level insights. All data submitted are private to the reporting organization and are aggregated before being used for public reporting. Organizations can use their data in several ways, including performance management, sustainability reporting or stakeholder communication. This flexibility allows companies to determine how best to share their data while supporting greater transparency and protecting confidentiality.
Closing thoughts
The US-RSPE Sustainability Framework provides the poultry and egg industry with a standardized approach to defining and implementing sustainability. Developed using a multi-stakeholder approach, the Framework establishes a set of metrics that organizations can use to measure and compare progress across the value chain.
Its voluntary, scalable design allows organizations at any sustainability maturity level to participate and continuously improve, ensuring that it remains both practical and dynamic as sustainability priorities and industry practices evolve.
Organizations interested in learning more about the Framework and participating in US-RSPE can visit the US-RSPE website. US-RSPE fosters collaboration among stakeholders across the poultry and egg industry, providing a platform to share expertise and help shape practical, data-driven solutions to measure and advance sustainability performance.
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