1) In order to increase access to eggs for the world’s poorer populations, what should be the right balance between small-scale production, large-scale commercial production, and long-distance trade? If countries do increasingly move towards large-scale production, how do we balance the interests of better nutrition with concerns about smallholder livelihoods?
1.1) In order to increase access to eggs for the world’s poorer populations, what should be the right balance between small-scale production, large-scale commercial production, and long-distance trade?
The answer to right balance between “small-scale production”, “large-scale commercial production”, and “long-distance trade” lies in locally prevailing situations.
1.2) If countries do increasingly move towards large-scale production, how do we balance the interests of better nutrition with concerns about smallholder livelihoods?
National governments need to look into nutrition aspects of egg production through appropriate strategies that focus on farming and hygiene issues. As regards balancing act between nutritional aspect and safeguarding the interests of small scale egg producers, there is need to involve all stakeholders in planning and implementation process. Most importantly, the viable and practical solutions should come from joint consultation, especially by involving community level stakeholders, including egg producers. There is no standard formula to ensure balance.
2) What are the different ways that we could increase demand for eggs, other than increasing availability and reducing price? What are some examples of successful initiatives?
A) Strategies Required for Increasing Egg Demand:
Eggs are wholesome, nutritious food with high nutrient density. They provide 12% of the daily value for protein and a wide variety of other nutrients like vitamins and minerals, along with various other important ingredients so crucial for growth and good health.
Protein in the nutrition is one of the most important health indices that affect children's growth and development. Lutein and zeaxanthin are two newly-recognized nutrients that have put eggs in the "functional foods" category. A functional food is one that provides health benefits beyond its basic nutrient content. Recent studies have shown that consuming lutein and zeaxanthin can significantly lower risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness affecting people over the age of 65. In addition, there is a less likelihood of cataracts (source: accessed on November 05, 2018 from: http://dahd.nic.in/sites/default/filess/Seeking%20Comments%20on%20National%20Action%20Plan-%20Poultry-%202022%20by%2012-12-2017.pdf).
As regards strategies for increasing demand for eggs, information, education and communication (IEC) need to be touched upon. In more accurate terms, this will require “educational intervention”, wherein the national governments, across the regions of the globe, all those involved (including health educators and medical/para-medical personnel) should educate masses about significance of egg consumption. This initiative can envisage engaging print, electronic as well as digital (including social) media. Universities, colleges and other educational institutions can make difference.
B) Examples of Successful Initiatives:
a) American Egg Board – Introduction to the Initiative:
Today, just two percent of the U.S. population lives on farms, producing food for the remaining 98 percent of the population. America’s egg farmers continue to modernize egg farming production and processing practices in order to meet the demand for nutritious, high-quality eggs.
America’s egg farmers have very strict safeguards and practices they follow to make sure their hens are healthy and to protect the quality of the eggs. Hen health and egg quality are the top two priorities on egg farms all day, every day. Egg farmers follow guidelines to ensure the hens are provided with nutritious feed, clean water, proper lighting and fresh air. Light, housing, diet and health are very important to the production process in order to provide high-quality eggs, and therefore, very important to the egg farmer. Advances in science and technology help egg farmers preserve safety and quality throughout the gathering, inspecting, packaging and handling process (Source: Accessed on November 5, 2018 from: https://www.aeb.org/farmers-and-marketers/ftip).
b) Production Process:
The egg production process includes the following phases:
Laying: Hens lay eggs in a controlled environment and are fed a high-quality, nutritionally balanced diet of feed made up mostly of corn, soybean meal, vitamins and minerals to produce quality eggs.
- Collecting: Some eggs are still gathered by hand, but in most production facilities, automated gathering belts do the job.
- Washing: Although the hen supplies the bloom, a natural coating to protect the porous shell, in nature, the coating dries and is lost. The bloom is also lost through the egg washing process when the eggs are washed and sanitized.
- Candling: The step in the grading during which the farmer (egg grader) looks inside the egg, without breaking it, to determine the quality.
- Grading: Farmers classify their eggs by the interior and exterior quality at the time it is packed. Grades include AA, A or B. There is no difference in the nutritional value between different grades and all eggs sold at the retail level must meet the standards for Grade B or better. However, few Grade B eggs find their way to the retail market:
Grade AA: Egg content covers a small area – white is firm and has thick white surrounding the yolk, and a small amount of thin white. The yolk is round and elevated.
Grade A: Egg content covers a moderate area. White is reasonably firm and has a considerable amount of thick white and a medium amount of thin white. The yolk is round and elevated.
Grade B: Egg content covers a very wide area. White is weak and watery, has no thick white and the large amount of thin white is thinly spread. The yolk is wider than normal and flat. - Sorting & Packing: Eggs are sorted according to size (minimum weight per dozen) and should be placed large-end up in their cartons.
- Shipping: Egg farmers ship their eggs in refrigerated trucks. Most eggs in the U.S. reach the grocery store just one day after being laid and nearly all of them reach the store within 72 hours, or 3 days.
- Selling & Storing: Eggs must be refrigerated. An egg can age more in one day at room temperature than in one week in the refrigerator. The best place for the egg is in its carton on an inside refrigerator shelf.
- Enjoying: America’s egg farmers produce a high-quality product that provides all-natural, high-quality protein, that is now 14 percent lower in cholesterol (down from 215 mg to 185 mg), and 64 percent higher in vitamin D.
(Source: Accessed on November 5, 2018 from: https://www.aeb.org/farmers-and-marketers/ftip).
3) How can we mitigate the potential downsides of large-scale egg production on animal welfare and carbon emissions?
3.1) Large-Scale Egg Production and Animal Welfare:
Technology can play significant role in ensuring animal welfare while ensuring large-scale egg production. However, assessing welfare in large poultry flocks, to be able to detect potential welfare risks and to control or minimize its impact is difficult. Current developments in technology and mathematical modelling open new possibilities for real-time automatic monitoring of animal welfare and health. New technological innovations potentially adaptable to commercial poultry are appearing, although their practical implementation is still being defined. In this paper, we review the latest technological developments with potential to be applied to poultry welfare, especially for broiler chickens and laying hens. Some of the examples that are presented and discussed include the following: sensors for farm environmental monitoring, movement, or physiological parameters; imaging technologies such as optical flow to detect gait problems and feather pecking; infrared technologies to evaluate birds’ thermoregulatory features and metabolism changes, that may be indicative of welfare, health and management problems. All these technologies have the potential to be implemented at the commercial level to improve birds’ welfare and to optimize flock management, therefore, improving the efficiency of the system in terms of use of resources and, thus, long term sustainability (Accessed on November 5, 2018 from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5082308/).
3.2) Large-Scale Egg Production and Carbon Emissions:
Information on the sources and magnitudes of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions from livestock food production is of considerable interest to policymakers. Recently, several governments have committed to: (a) reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and (b) minimize the projected impacts of climate change. The GHG from red meat production are relatively well understood and high in comparison with poultry meat production. The difference is largely due to the contributions of methane and nitrous oxide. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has made significant contribution in studying and understanding underlying linkages between large-scale egg production and carbon emissions (Accessed on November 5, 2018 from: https://academic.oup.com/ps/article/93/1/231/1540406). Eggs constitute a major alternative source of animal protein in the UK, but information on the GHG emissions associated with UK egg production is limited to studies of partially comparable US intensive systems and UK studies modeling aggregated national data. A recent review of the sustainability of egg production highlighted these gaps in understanding of their environmental impact (Accessed on November 5, 2018 from: https://academic.oup.com/ps/article/93/1/231/1540406).
4) What do we need different stakeholders (governments; private sector; academia; normative agencies) to do to accelerate access to eggs in poor communities?
Setting directions and goals for animal production systems requires the integration of information achieved through internal and external processes. The importance of stakeholder input in setting goals for sustainable egg production systems for poor communities should not be overlooked by the agricultural animal industries. Stakeholders play an integral role in setting the course for many aspects of egg, from influencing consumer preferences to setting public policy. The Socially Sustainable Egg Production Project (SSEP) involved the development of white papers on various aspects of egg production, followed by a stakeholder workshop to help frame the issues for the future of sustainable egg production. Representatives from the environmental, food safety, food retail, consumer, animal welfare, and the general farm and egg production sectors can facilitate making egg accessible for poorer section of the population across the regions of the globe (Accessed on November 5, 2018 from: https://academic.oup.com/ps/article/90/9/2110/1497397).
Santosh Kumar Mishra