Forum global sur la sécurité alimentaire et la nutrition (Forum FSN)

Dear Moderator,

Eggs are a useful element in the challenging fight to improve nutrition. Let us not forget that there are also other plentiful foods that are as useful as eggs, and better suited to meet the challenge of sustainably improving nutrition for the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) where incomes are between $1 and $3 per day. As the attached brief (Cost of Protein in Africa) shows, the retail cost of protein provided via soy foods (either soy flour or locally produced soymilk/yoghurt) is less than half the cost of eggs. Soymilk can also be supplemented readily with low-cost micro-nutrient powders to provide Vit A,B,C,E, folic acid, iron and zinc , among others, to provide a super-nutritious, yet more affordable and highly accessible food supplement. Also, egg production uses several times more energy, water and land (to grow the chicken feed) than soybean cultivation for human consumption, and produces 10x greenhouse gas emissions, therefore is less environmentally sustainable.

Every possible solution to fight chronic malnutrition should be considered and deployed. There is no single food commodity that provides the solution, but let's keep our sights on accessibility, affordability and sustainability.

best regards,

Hart Jansson, President

Malnutrition Matters

Per person per year egg consumption in India is just only 66 eggs, with huge regional variations. For instance, in Uttar Pradesh it is only 10 eggs. While in neighboring China, it is 300 eggs/head/year. Appreciably, the National Institute of Nutrition- an institution under Indian Council of Medical Research has recommended and made the provision of eggs compulsory in mid-day meals, being cheaper, safer, more nutritious and easier to procure than alternatives such as milk or bananas. In spite of recommendation coming from such a high level institution, it has not yet been implemented in many states. In the matters of health, people, institutions and government must rise above social and religious considerations, if any. The National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) has made efforts in India to boost egg consumption among public in general and school children in particular. Such efforts need support from public and institutions. The celebrating World Egg Day on the second Friday in October each year is one good way of boosting egg consumption. The institutions concerned with livestock and poultry research and production should shoulder the responsibility of promoting egg consumption. The private sector especially the poultry industry can play larger role by launching egg promotional campaigns, possibly by including this in their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) schemes. There are huge opportunities in poultry sector in India, if we could promote egg consumption from the current low level to higher levels.

Hoping for the best !

Mahesh

Interesting debate.

1. Eggs have great potential as demonstrated in current research, to contain the pervading threat of malnutrition in developing countries.
2. Promoting egg production among poor households may face the challenge common in such situations i.e. poor families will prioritise cash benefits of selling eggs as opposed to the nutritional benefits
3. advocacy and sensitization of families critical for such a project to work.
4. Suggest piloting, drawing lessons before scale up. 

Thank you for your continued interest in this discussion and thorough comments.

Many of you have highlighted the need for better education and communication on the benefits of eggs. One example of a successful initiative out of Canada was a Physician Education Program, through which Egg Farmers of Canada spent 7 years meeting with individual Family Physicians across Canada to share recent science related to eggs, cholesterol and nutrition. Through this program, they were able to reduce the number of Canadian Family Physicians limiting their patients’ egg consumption from 65% to 25%. This played a huge role in improving the perceptions of eggs with the medical community, and in turn with their patients.

Santosh Kumar Mishra describes some of the standards in place on American farms to maintain the safety of eggs and the welfare of the hens. The Canadian industry has similar programs in place and will be launching a new program in 2019 which will tell consumers, through the use of an on-pack mark, that their eggs are produced according to highest food safety and animal care standards. The Egg Quality Assurance (EQA) program goes hand-in-hand with Egg Farmers of Canada’s commitment to continuously improve and strengthen egg farming practices to safeguard Canada’s food supply. The British Lion Egg program is another example of a long-standing and successful program that has increased the trust in the egg industry and greatly reduced the presence of Salmonella in the UK since its launch in 1998.

On the topic of sustainable nutrition, I’d like to share an article written by Dr.Mickey Rubin, Executive Director for the Egg Nutrition Center in the United States. The article, titled “Healthy, Sustainable Eating Patterns and the Importance of the Big Picture” highlights some of the key findings from a Lancet Planet Health study looking at measures of sustainability in recommended dietary patterns, and really illustrates the much broader considerations in sustainable nutrition than just greenhouse gas emissions. To further emphasize the societal aspects of sustainability, Dr. Rubin also touches on the Lulun project in Ecuador, which is also referred to in the special supplement of the Journal of Maternal and Chid Nutrition we have framed this discussion forum around.

There is an important message in Rose Hogan's comments towards farmers working together and collaborating to find efficiencies and to address challenges. I have had the opportunity to see the positive impact of farm communities working together across the world, and whole-heartedly believe that this not only strengthens the voice of the farmer in the value chain, but also delivers tremendous value to the entire agricultural community.

Olutosin Otekunrin comments raise an important point in disease prevention and management. Avian Influenza is a significant threat to egg producers around the world. This risk underlines the importance of bio-security in preventing outbreaks and reducing subsequent transmissions. There is interesting work being conducted around the world on this specific topic. Some members of the Forum may be interested in the reading up on the Avian Influenza Global Expert Group. The group contains senior representatives from the World Organisation for Animal Health, world-class scientists and industry representatives. Their focus is to come up with practical ways of better managing this threat.

Thanks again for your thoughtful comments and insight. As Saul has already touched on, we look forward to your thoughts on strengthening animal welfare, increasing demand and consumption of eggs, and identifying production efficiencies.

Once again it has been a pleasure reading the contributions of Forum members over the last week.

Several contributors have echoed themes expressed in the special supplement of Maternal and Child Nutrition. Teopista Mutesi notes that eggs can support improved nutritional outcomes in children. Mary Odusegun notes that eggs can be unaffordable for the poor, and Lawrence Matolo notes that in his home area when he was a child, eggs were so expensive that they were essentially used as currency. Christian Ciza notes the need to intensify production, and Akhila Vasan suggests an aggregation model perhaps similar to the egg hub discussed in the series. Hélène Delisle remarks on the need to combat taboos and unfounded health concerns, and Wajid Pirzada and Peterson Kato Kikomeko advocate for promotion campaigns along the lines of “an egg a day”. Olutosin Otekunrin helpfully summarises several of the messages of the series.

Other contributors have broadened the discussion and pointed us to new evidence in this area.

Santosh Kumar Mishra directs us to some additional sources which beautifully complement the recent series in Maternal and Child Nutrition and shed light on topics which were barely covered there. One paper (Ben Sassi, Averós & Estevez, 2016) reviews recent technological developments which could be applied to animal welfare. Another (Taylor, Omed & Edwards-Jones, 2014) helps us understand the carbon footprint of egg production. This paper concludes that “Eggs represent a relatively low-carbon supply of animal protein, but their production is heavily dependent on cereals and soy, with associated high emissions from industrial nitrogen production, land-use change, and transport. Alternative sources of digestible protein for poultry diets are available, may be produced from waste processing, and would be an effective tool for reducing the industry's GHG emissions and dependence on imported raw materials.”

Rabiu Auwalu Yakasai reminds us that school feeding can be an effective way to guarantee demand for eggs at scale, thereby incentivising new investment by businesses. Vethaiya Balasubramaniam also discusses school feeding, in this case pointing to the successful experience of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. Although less impactful than school feeding as a way to target nutrition to the most vulnerable, governments can also encourage other institutional purchasers—national airlines, for example, or the army—to buy locally and ensure offtake from growing producers. These measures might make prices rise in the short term (as has reportedly happened in several Nigerian states), in the medium term prices should fall as businesses are able to reap economies of scale.

Wilma Freire Zaldumbide emphasises how important it is to involve affected populations themselves in the design of interventions to improve nutrition. This in fact reinforces the findings of Carlos Andrés Gallegos Riofrío, published in the recent supplement of Maternal and Child Nutrition, who designed an intervention “informed by culturally based norms, values and local expectations” and fostered community empowerment.

We would still love to hear from more contributors who have effectively solved issues of animal welfare, demand creation, and price reduction in markets with high burdens of malnutrition.

An interesting and simple way to address a complex problem.

I represent a company R2 Agro where we take nutrition very serious. We have developed a feed additive for animals which provides improved storage time. Eggs better haugh unit and for chicken breast meat longer storrage time. (University proved studies)

This addresses another relevant issue in not having food to cause diseases.

Jesper Møller Nielsen

As I have been following the conversation I think we have done a great job of academic side of the egg and defining how nutritious it is and important to get into the diet, I hope we can start focusing on the development side and how to afford the egg so it can get into the diet. Thus I would like to return to the exercise is introduced into my initial comment about "hart choices: compromises in quality Nutrition". Has anyone downloaded and attempted to the exercise and for the poor of the world relying on heavy manual labor as their only economic opportunity tried to see what the compromises are in including or excluding the egg for the diet or the children’s diet. The exercise link is:  http://smallholderagriculture.agsci.colostate.edu/1028-2/  

A Contribution to the United Nations Forum on Global Food Security & Nutrition

Harnessing the Power of the Humble Chicken Egg in the Fight Against Hunger & Malnutrition

November 3, 2018

The "Humble Egg," as Saul Morris and Tim Lamber (the FAO.org Egg Forum administrators) put it; I have found through our intensive Nutritional Diversity study here in Panama, to very certainly be everything that is hoped for by this discussion's introductory comments.

Through experimentation with Nutritional Diversity Diet for different livestock, we came up with a few incredibly effective chicken food creation systems, that was based on a "grow soil not plants-type" of idea and a "use what you got-type" of attitude that saw drastic increases in egg production and overall chicken health.

In the case of the ND chicken study it was about moving chickens to new ground, where they can find a diversity of new insects naturally and developing insect production systems to provide a constant nutritionally diverse worm staple. Putting large rows of bucketed out food scraps approve 70 feet from the house, helped detract pests that were otherwise attracted to the smaller food piles left out for shorter times, like during cooking. We would allow insects to visit the food scraps and eventually buckets of grubs is what we had. The simple natural decision to learn to attract and use the most popular larvae worm or grub type naturally occurring was a winner. I am really proud that we took the time and really communicated strong love and care to our chickens during the life of that particular study and line of experiments.

During this time on the Caribbean Island of Colon, of Bocas del Toro, the farm inherited an abandoned young person who we all learned an immense and dynamic set of lessons from. His diet became Nutritionally Diversity and eggs. For our many chapters of economic stress, eggs became the principle protein group in the diet for the entire farm family there.

Many modern diet subscribers would say that eating too many eggs runs a cholesterol and acidity risk. We have found the egg heavy diet to be incredibly sustainable both in times of poverty and for our personal nutrition. Eggs are serious in nutrition and the cholesterol concerns are addressable by donating a certain amount of yoke to compost, to rabbits, to bee's or back to nature in other ways.

The amount of time that chickens have been used in sustainable agriculture dates back at least 10,000 years. We had good energy and sustained muscle mass using eggs this way, we did not encounter any sort of problem, again this is combined with 50-100 other species, and in this type of consumption model, not much is a problem.

I maintain and drive the point always that a diverse spectrum of plants at 5x ( gram weight) that of protein consumed makes the optimal diet for humans and this concept I write under the title Nutritional Diversity, and low and behold, I also found this to be true of chickens. These guys are very happy to eat a Nutritional Diversity diet of their own. Their selection of plants as they are moved around the farm or wild terrains using an electric portable fence can be quite the revealing experiment in a good number of ways.

Chickens when let out can follow the farmer who loves them in a quiet loyal and local fashion. When that bucket of worms goes back in the pen, you can expect they will be right behind it. They are very interpretable, and there are many different species of chicken. These guys deserve a story and no living thing deserves to be caged or kept on it`s own feces for long. Just like all nature they depend on and deserve a diverse environment rich with thousands of other living souls.

The balance of give and take must be appropriate, at a minimum with our animals and with our plants. The strongest system is the one that gives the most love and care, and the most diversity.

We must stop trying to control so much as much as we need to let nature do it's own job. The most divine of us will realize beyond that, to really take care of and propagate our environment and diversity into abundance for all. There is a social cultural aspect to our methods that is grossly overlooked and therefore even more important than ever today. We all know the free range chicken is a more healthy and nutritious product than the factory abuse of the living animal does. Chickens also can remove the need for harsh pesticides that plague or precious pollinators and seriously threaten our remaining ecology.

Small groups of seven to thirteen chickens in moveable chicken fencing and moveable houses is what I found to work very well. Chicken tee-pee style houses rolled up with Premeir (or other) temporary solar powered roll fencing into backpack or horse / ironhorse carry bundles which makes it more manageable, easy and could bring in a whole new set of possibilities for a free roam large range secure chicken farming plan. In the interest of global freedom and food security the chicken egg, is a great egg but it is not the only egg, or the only food fowl. A repopulation of all diverse species to abundance effort is a repetative final thought in the freedom and security conversation. See also Guerilla Permaculture, A More Integrated with Nature Free Permaculture System.

Working chickens and other natural fowl into mutlistaged mutlifacted sustainable agriculture models rooted in the fact that they are free and loving, should be ahead of other science, and the fact that it is not at the level yet of replacing pesticide use, is shameful. It can be as easy as selecting public land, deciding to love it, and starting to see what invited species take a liking to it also.

Humbly,

Brandon Eisler

Nutritional Diversity ,

A Complete All Natural Guide to Human Optimization.

Chickens are one of the main and most common assets of poorer rural households and they are transportable and easily converted to cash in times of extreme risks and temporary migration. Local breeds are the toughest survivors and generally don't need specially grown or purchased feeds.

One of main challenges to poor rural households who wish to keep chickens is disease, especially Newcastle disease. The vaccination against it is cheap and easily administered. However the most efficient and effective vaccination approach is a collective one whereby whole communities of people collaborate to vaccinate on a regular (usually quarterly ) basis.

Unfortunately few NGOs, who wish to promote poultry keeping, support this approach but rather distribute chickens (often fragile exotic breeds) to individual households without studying the disease history.

To impact on rural household nutrition as the primary focus, chicken disease prevention on a geographical and or administrative areas basis can be a very cheap way to facilitate the survival and multiplication of the poultry stock poor rural people already have.

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).