Centennial Review: A revisiting of hen welfare and egg safety consequences of mandatory outdoor access for organic egg production

ABSTRACT: Mandating free range husbandry as a requirement for organic egg designation remains a prevailing sentiment within a segment of the organic community. The proponents maintain that such management practice ensures high hen welfare and enhanced wholesomeness of the egg. However, evidence from...

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Autor principal:	Peter S. Holt
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	free range hen welfare egg safety poultry disease Five Freedoms Animal culture SF1-1100
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/78a704168bf54edf874bb72009ccccec
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:78a704168bf54edf874bb72009ccccec2021-11-24T04:21:42ZCentennial Review: A revisiting of hen welfare and egg safety consequences of mandatory outdoor access for organic egg production0032-579110.1016/j.psj.2021.101436https://doaj.org/article/78a704168bf54edf874bb72009ccccec2021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579121004594https://doaj.org/toc/0032-5791ABSTRACT: Mandating free range husbandry as a requirement for organic egg designation remains a prevailing sentiment within a segment of the organic community. The proponents maintain that such management practice ensures high hen welfare and enhanced wholesomeness of the egg. However, evidence from the field, especially in the European Union (EU), contradicts these assumptions. In many cases, hens allowed outdoor access were more subject to increased injury from predators and from flock mates, disease was more prevalent and generally more severe, and, as a result, higher mortality was routinely observed in these individuals compared with those raised indoors. The safety of eggs from free range hens is also questionable. Outdoor access compromises biosecurity efforts to curtail interaction of hens with rodents and wild birds, increasing the risk of flock Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis infection and consequent production of Salmonella-contaminated eggs. Even more serious, soil contaminated with dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls, carcinogenic industrial by-products widespread in the environment, can be ingested by hens foraging outdoors. These compounds will subsequently be deposited into the egg yolks, many times at high levels, creating a serious food safety issue for the consuming public. Such findings provide evidence that hens exposed to a free-range environment may exhibit neither an enhanced welfare nor produce the safe wholesome egg that consumers expect.Peter S. HoltElsevierarticlefree rangehen welfareegg safetypoultry diseaseFive FreedomsAnimal cultureSF1-1100ENPoultry Science, Vol 100, Iss 12, Pp 101436- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	free range hen welfare egg safety poultry disease Five Freedoms Animal culture SF1-1100
spellingShingle	free range hen welfare egg safety poultry disease Five Freedoms Animal culture SF1-1100 Peter S. Holt Centennial Review: A revisiting of hen welfare and egg safety consequences of mandatory outdoor access for organic egg production
description	ABSTRACT: Mandating free range husbandry as a requirement for organic egg designation remains a prevailing sentiment within a segment of the organic community. The proponents maintain that such management practice ensures high hen welfare and enhanced wholesomeness of the egg. However, evidence from the field, especially in the European Union (EU), contradicts these assumptions. In many cases, hens allowed outdoor access were more subject to increased injury from predators and from flock mates, disease was more prevalent and generally more severe, and, as a result, higher mortality was routinely observed in these individuals compared with those raised indoors. The safety of eggs from free range hens is also questionable. Outdoor access compromises biosecurity efforts to curtail interaction of hens with rodents and wild birds, increasing the risk of flock Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis infection and consequent production of Salmonella-contaminated eggs. Even more serious, soil contaminated with dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls, carcinogenic industrial by-products widespread in the environment, can be ingested by hens foraging outdoors. These compounds will subsequently be deposited into the egg yolks, many times at high levels, creating a serious food safety issue for the consuming public. Such findings provide evidence that hens exposed to a free-range environment may exhibit neither an enhanced welfare nor produce the safe wholesome egg that consumers expect.
format	article
author	Peter S. Holt
author_facet	Peter S. Holt
author_sort	Peter S. Holt
title	Centennial Review: A revisiting of hen welfare and egg safety consequences of mandatory outdoor access for organic egg production
title_short	Centennial Review: A revisiting of hen welfare and egg safety consequences of mandatory outdoor access for organic egg production
title_full	Centennial Review: A revisiting of hen welfare and egg safety consequences of mandatory outdoor access for organic egg production
title_fullStr	Centennial Review: A revisiting of hen welfare and egg safety consequences of mandatory outdoor access for organic egg production
title_full_unstemmed	Centennial Review: A revisiting of hen welfare and egg safety consequences of mandatory outdoor access for organic egg production
title_sort	centennial review: a revisiting of hen welfare and egg safety consequences of mandatory outdoor access for organic egg production
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/78a704168bf54edf874bb72009ccccec
work_keys_str_mv	AT petersholt centennialreviewarevisitingofhenwelfareandeggsafetyconsequencesofmandatoryoutdooraccessfororganiceggproduction
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Centennial Review: A revisiting of hen welfare and egg safety consequences of mandatory outdoor access for organic egg production

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