Terrence O'KeefeTerrence O'Keefe is content director at WATT Global Media. www.wattglobalmedia.com/contact-usFrom the Author - Page 14Broilers & TurkeysPoultry welfare, science basis with consumer approvalLike many professionals working either for poultry companies or for industry suppliers, part of my fascination with the poultry industry has been the never ending quest to use every branch of science and technology to make continuous progress in making safer and more affordable poultry products. Anecdotal evidence for improvement is never enough for this industry, everything is put to the test whether in the lab or in field trials; poultry folks require hard data.Avian Influenza9 avian flu control measures to implement in your areaThe avian influenza outbreak in 2016 was particularly hard on the turkey industry in Minnesota. Dr. Duane Murphy, veterinarian, Farbest Foods, Inc. told the audience at the Delmarva Poultry Industry's National Meeting on Poultry Health, Processing and Live Production in Ocean City Maryland, that the industry had time to work on five things it learned from the Minnesota outbreak before the Indiana outbreak started in January 2016.Processing & SlaughterBroiler lawsuit ignores economic reasons for cutbacksA class action antitrust lawsuit charges that U.S. broiler companies conspired to reduce chicken production to cause chicken prices to rise to “unprecedented” levels during the period from 2008-2014. In a press release, a 50 percent increase in chicken prices is what is described as “unprecedented.”Cage-Free Laying SystemsDramatic egg price shifts cloud cage-free choicesHow many consumers will feel good enough about the words “cage free” to pay $2 more per dozen?Hens and TrendsUS egg industry faces hard choices amid cage-free rushWhile the U.S. egg industry surges toward a cage-free future, the United Egg Producers and its members find themselves at a crossroads. Should the organization of the country’s largest egg farmers go all in for cage-free production, or back against the trend by defending battery or enriched cages?Egg ProductionAvian flu not behind the cage-free egg purchase pledgesKroger is the second largest seller of groceries in the U.S., trailing only Walmart, and when they announced that they were launching Kroger brand cage-free eggs it makes news. At least one popular press article about this announcement really misses the target when trying to explain what is driving Kroger's move.Cage-Free Laying SystemsMcDonald’s CEO discusses cage-free egg pledgeDecision to switch to cage-free egg purchases is considered to be a key piece of the fast food chain’s turnaround plan.Egg ProductionRapid US cage-free egg farm expansions lead to ‘chaos’With all the pledges made by retailers, foodservice outlets and food manufacturers to purchase cage-free eggs, it would seem cage-free eggs would be flying off the grocery store shelves in the U.S. But, that doesn’t seem to be the case, according to comments made by egg producers at the United Egg Producers (UEP) Area 5 Briefing held on August 15 in Atlanta.Broilers & TurkeysTyson video shows poultry welfare requires training, feedbackPoultry producers need to rethink the kind of feedback that is given to crews that handle live birds at all stages of their operations and pay particular attention to areas where injury to birds doesn’t result in significant economic loss.Cage-Free Laying SystemsCage-free conversion yields egg farm more hens housedLayer welfare schemes establish minimum space requirements for hens and cage-free layers are provided more space per bird than their cage-housed counterparts. So, converting a cage house to cage free would logically mean you wind up with fewer hens housed, except that isn’t always the case.Cage-Free Laying Systems‘McPicture’ of cage-housed hens not accurate for USBecause of its size and the high visibility of its brand, McDonald’s has become a target for just about every activist group out there. The resulting public relations smear campaigns have resulted in the fast food giant making several changes in its purchasing practices for items as diverse as eggs, coffee, chicken meat and packaging materials.Diseases & HealthBroiler complex design prevents avian flu outbreaksAvian influenza outbreaks have occurred in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America over the last few years causing bird losses both from the disease itself and culling done as part of eradication efforts. As U.S. broiler producers found out in 2015, the most costly aspect of avian influenza often isn’t from bird losses, but rather its stems from lost sales due to export bans.Previous PagePage 14 of 59Next Page