TV chef Jamie Oliver and Moy Park, the UK’s largest producer of chicken, have teamed up to develop higher welfare chicken products that will launch under the Jamie Oliver brand. The range includes a version of the popular Empire Roast Chicken, from the TV show Jamie’s Great Britain, as well as American barbecue chicken and a Jubilee Chicken Casserole. The new product range will be stocked in retailers across the UK and Ireland from June 2012. It is the first time that the Jamie Oliver brand has included chicken, after the chef began a high profile campaign about poultry welfare. “We’ve used the finest ingredients to inspire people to get stuck in and enjoy cooking simple, delicious and affordable food that’s full of flavour and sourced in an honest and responsible way,” Oliver said. Moy Park’s Andrew Nethercott said it was a natural partnership. “Farming is at the heart of our business and we are extremely proud to work with poultry farmers who employ the highest standards on their farms, ensuring sustainability, welfare and product quality are their priorities,” he said.
Background
Beyond 2012: The future of egg production systems
//13 Mar 2012
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Photo 1: Large group furnished (enriched) laying cages for 60 hens.
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2012 will see the most dramatic changes in egg production systems that Europe has ever known. Whilst it has become apparent that not all conventional laying cages (CC) have been taken out of service by the beginning of this year, as required by EU Council Directive (CD) 99/74/EC, the requirement is there and when it is accomplished over 250 million laying hen places will have been moved from CC to furnished (enriched) cages (FC) and non-cage systems (NC) within a short timescale. It also seems likely that soon after the transition has been completed in Europe it will be underway in North America and take place there over a period of about 10 years from 2015.
Returning to Europe, where cultural factors have resulted in considerable differences in the proportion of laying hens in different housing systems between Member States (MS), the overall picture is that CC have predominated in eastern and southern regions, whereas barn and free-range systems are more prominent in northern ones (Figure 1). The data presented here indicate the position about three years ago.
It can be assumed that in Europe, for the foreseeable future, most hens will be in FC of various types. Much progress has been made in design refinement and improvement in FC and this can be expected to continue. Meanwhile, most FC in Scandinavian countries are for small groups of 8–10 hens (FCS), but those in the rest of Europe are mainly in larger groups of 40–80 hens (FCL, see Photo 1).
Despite the impressive performance and welfare of well managed laying hens in good designs of FC, the system is still relatively new and further developments can be anticipated. These may include:
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Photo 2: Multi-tier aviary system for layers.
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Whereas in several MS cages predominate and are likely to do so for the foreseeable future, in a few others aviary (barn) and free-range systems are becoming increasingly popular. The UK has the highest proportion of hens free-range whereas in Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden barn eggs constitute a considerable proportion of total production.
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Photo 3: Wooded free range providing shelter and shade away from the house.
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Whilst this may appear attractive and consumers enjoy the thought of hens having plenty of freedom, reality in relation to hen wellbeing may be quite different. It is akin to mixing domesticated and wild animals and is therefore not surprising that mortality is generally much higher in free-range than other systems (Figure 2). The main causes of this mortality, and additional ‘missing mortality’ which is rarely recorded, are predation by wild animals and birds of prey and smothering due to hens rushing together when they become fearful of things they perceive as potential aerial predators, but there are also several other risks associated with keeping hens outside. However some consumers, who are generally unaware of these dangers, are willing to pay a premium for free-range eggs
Chicken prices to soar
Chicken prices are expected to increase by 10 percent in the festive season. Photo: Simphiwe Mbokazi
Poultry prices are expected to soar by at least 10 percent this festive season due to increased demand. Increases of 20 percent are expected in the new year as stocks of maize, a major input into poultry feed, become depleted.
Only imports of duck, turkey, guinea fowl, geese and special chicken cuts are likely to keep the festive increases in check.
“The real problem is that maize (import) prices are not determined by local production costs. They are determined by the US Chicago Board of Trade. We are expected to run out of maize… and we will pay R1 000 (a ton) more than export parity prices,” explained Kevin Lovell, the chief executive of the SA Poultry Association.
He said the 20 percent increase might be conservative.
Lovell said turkey products were imported from countries such as Brazil, as the last local turkey producer was shut down about a year ago. In addition, duck was usually produced on a regional basis, with the most duck imported from countries such as Thailand.
Regional and local duck producers were struggling, he said.
The demand-led price hikes come at a time when families gather and people socialise during the festive season.
At least 143 000 tons of white maize and 60 000 tons of yellow maize would have to be imported this season. The higher cost of maize and soya beans would weigh on margins since imports affected the positive momentum in pricing.
Philip Tozer, the sales and marketing executive at Astral Foods, said prices would be much higher than last year. He confirmed the expected 10 percent increase, attributing it to higher feed input costs and demand for poultry products during the festive season.
“The feed input costs have gone up and the demand is stronger in December.”
He revealed that in October to December 2008, maize prices were at a high, which sent chicken prices rocketing. However, in 2009, chicken prices fell 6 percent, while in 2010 prices increased by just 2 percent. “Compared with the last three Decembers, prices will be 5 percent higher,” he said.
Tozer forecast consumers would pay R1.50 more for each kilogram of chicken. The price of a 2kg bag of frozen mixed portions, which now sold at R34.99, would increase to as much as R39.99. A year ago, the same size bag cost R31.99, giving a 25 percent increase year on year next month, he said.
Jiten Bechoo, an analyst at Avior Research, said an expected surge in imports could limit price increases.
He said poultry prices had been lagging as a result of imports. “The stronger rand resulted in imports proliferating in the local market, which kept prices depressed.” Certain chicken products had already seen price increases of between 9 percent and 10 percent, so seasonal hikes could be limited.
Poultry farms that have adopted organic practices and ceased using antibiotics have significantly lower levels of drug-resistant enterococci bacteria that can potentially spread to humans, according to a new study by the University of Maryland.
The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives is the first to demonstrate lower levels of drug-resistant bacteria on newly organic farms in the United States and suggests that removing antibiotic use from large-scale US poultry farms can result in immediate and significant reductions in antibiotic resistance for some bacteria.
Antibiotic-resistant enterococci “We initially thought we would see some differences in on-farm levels of antibiotic-resistant enterococci when poultry farms transitioned to organic practices. But we were surprised to see that the differences were so significant across several different classes of antibiotics even in the very first flock of birds that was produced after the transition to organic standards,” explained Amy R. Sapkota, an assistant professor with the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health. “It is very encouraging.” Sapkota and her team investigated the impact of removing antibiotics from US poultry farms by studying 10 conventional and 10 newly organic large-scale poultry houses in the mid-Atlantic region.
They tested for the presence of enterococci bacteria in poultry litter, feed, and water, and tested its resistance to 17 common antimicrobials. “We chose to study enterococci because these microorganisms are found in all poultry, including poultry on both organic and conventional farms. The enterococci also cause infections in human patients staying in hospitals. In addition, many of the antibiotics given in feed to farm animals are used to fight Gram-positive bacteria such as the enterococci.
These features, along with their reputation of easily exchanging resistance genes with other bacteria, make enterococci a good model for studying the impact of changes in antibiotic use on farms,” Sapkota said. Organic poultry resistance While all farms tested positive for the presence of enterococci in poultry litter, feed, and water as expected, the newly organic farms were characterised by a significantly lower prevalence of antibiotic-resistant enterococci. For example, 67% of Enterococcus faecalis recovered from conventional poultry farms were resistant to erythromycin, while 18% of Enterococcus faecalis from newly organic poultry farms were resistant to this antibiotic. Dramatic changes were also observed in the levels of multi-drug resistant bacteria (organisms resistant to three or more antimicrobial classes) on the newly organic farms.
Multi-drug resistant bacteria are of particular public health concern because they can be resistant to all available antibiotics, and are, therefore, very difficult to treat if contracted by an animal or human. Forty-two percent of Enterococcus faecalis from conventional farms were multi-drug resistant, compared to only 10% from newly organic farms, and 84% of Enterococcus faecium from conventional farms were multi-drug resistant compared to 17% of those from newly organic farms. “While we know that the dynamics of antibiotic resistance differ by bacterium and antibiotic, these findings show that, at least in the case of enterococci, we begin to reverse resistance on farms even among the first group of animals that are grown without antibiotics, said Sapkota.
Now we need to look forward and see what happens over five years, 10 years in time.” Sapkota said she expects that reductions in drug-resistant bacteria on US farms that “go organic” are likely to be more dramatic over time as reservoirs of resistant bacteria in the farm environment diminish. Source: University of Maryland Photo source: Amy R. Sapkota, University of Maryland
