CHOOSING THE EGG-CONSUMER DILEMMA!

With heightened awareness about food safety and health protection, consumers are invariably in a dilemma as to which products they should be buying and which ones they should be shunning. This is true with almost all foods on the retail shelves in the market. Take the case of eggs which are offered in many formats, at least in developed countries making the consumers totally confused. It is relatively easy in many developing countries where grading and certification are exception rather than rule. In recent years eggs offered in supermarkets come with different claims which most consumers do not understand. These claims on the cartons decide the prices one has to pay and hence a thorough understanding of the implications of such claims can equip the buyer to decide on the option. One must ask the question whether paying more money for a particular product is worth the money spent on it and here is where knowledge about the significance of the claims help to zero in on the most desirable type of egg. Terms used by the poultry industry like "free range", "cage free", "omega-3", "vegetarian" etc are stamped on the labels and they may make no sense to an ordinary consumer.

When the carton says it contains free range eggs many consumers may entertain images of a happy, healthy chicken roaming freely on a grassy hillside. Is it true?Not necessarily! Such claims do not assure that the hen was actually able to roam around outdoors. Generally as per law free-range conditions apply to only birds that are sold for their meat, not for egg-laying chickens. Even here it only means that the birds need to have access to the outdoors which can be fulfilled by providing a door in the side of the farm! Whether the chicken ever passes through it or not is irrelevant to the law which is equally vague as to whether the door leads to a concrete slab or actual grass or dirt!. Where does that leave the consumer? To no where! What does it mean when "cage free" adjective is used in the egg carton? It simply means that the hens are not confined to a cage but no one guarantees that these birds have real freedom to roam a farm and eat a varied diet, which is vital to the nutrients in the egg. The size of their space varies greatly from farm to farm. Some chickens have no more room than a small pet carrier! Almost all cage-free hens are still kept indoors and often, it's in a cramped barn.

One of the claimed benefits of cage-free and free-range bird is that the chickens will be healthier. Naturally when the birds are confined to the indoors, without access to natural light and the ability to stretch their legs, they are more vulnerable to sickness that calls for use of antibiotics frequently. Those that roam freely live more naturally in the outdoors and may not require extensive use of antibiotics which may find access to the eggs. There are interesting anecdotes that describe how tasty the traditionally raised country chickens can be compared to industrially produced chicken meat and eggs.

There are other versions of eggs such as "organic" which merely means that the bird was fed pesticide-free food and wasn't given hormones or antibiotics to help spur their growth and production. World is not unanimous in the view regarding the effects (if any) of using these hormones and pesticides have on the consumers in short term as well as long term. Many believe that these unnatural substances are undesirable and harmful causing cancers. Probably consumers are better off with organic eggs though they may have to pay extra such eggs, till better clarity emerges on this issue.. Omega-3 eggs are produced by hens raised on feeds containing high amounts of these types of fats considered heart-healthy. Such eggs are expected to contain two to three times the amount of omega 3s as compared to a regular egg and can be ideal for those who are averse to consuming fish like Salmon. There is this interesting version of a vegetarian egg which comes from hens fed on plant based feeds, suitable for ovo-vegetarians shunning dairy based foods. Hens with dark feathers produce brown eggs which are deceptively sold as more nutritious food which is not true. As these breeds eat more feed than chickens that lay white eggs, brown eggs invariably cost more to the consumer with no real advantage. It has to be kept in mind that an egg's taste and nutrition levels are most importantly influenced by feed composition which can be easily manipulated to give desired types of eggs.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

POULTRY INDUSTRY-THE INDIAN SAGA

During these days of globalization and liberalization of economy, how is that an egg in India cost to the consumer less than 5 cents (Rs 2.50) while same egg sells for more than 20 cents (Rs 10) in the markets of rich nations? After all same hen lays the egg, people have to work hard and certain minimum infrastructure is necessary to maintain poultry industry whether it is in UK, USA, Japan or India. Some leeway can be given for the low cost of labor, lower power cost, cheap raw materials and low purchasing power of the population in general for the prevailing low prices for egg in the country. Still how can the poultry industry, which does not enjoy the economy of scale in running the poultry farms as most of the farms are much smaller than what one can see in other countries, afford this give away?. There are a very few farms that can boast of a bird population of more than a lakh and most of them have only a few thousands at ant given time. Though reliable statistics cannot be a a strong point in this country, one may go along with estimates by different sources regarding the strength of the poultry industry. It is estimated that there are about 60000 large poultry farms in the country with more than 1000 birds per farm while another one lakh farms operate with bird strength of 50-1000 . Still poultry industry is a thriving activity employing 3 million people in production, distribution and retailing with another 15 million farmers producing the ingredients that go into poultry feed.

India is supposed to be the third largest producer of eggs in the world with a production estimated at 47 billion eggs an year working out to an average per capita annual consumption of 41 eggs where as the recommended intake is 180 eggs. The skewed consumption profile is reflected by very low consumption in rural areas, about 5-20 eggs per year while in urban and semi urban areas the intake is 42-170 eggs an year depending on the population of the cities. An egg weighs about 43 gm (small) to 71 gm (extra large) and is one of the richest sources of concentrated nutrients known to mankind. On an average one kilogram of egg provides 11.2 gm of carbohydrate, 126 gm of protein with very high biological value and 106 gm of fat besides meeting 51% of RDA for Vitamin B1, 33% for B2 and 28% for Pantothenate. True it also is a significant source of dietary cholesterol, about 426 mg/100 gm. Consuming about 6 eggs a week by a normal person is not known to precipitate diseases like CVD, Stroke and Diabetes as being commonly perceived but those with these diseases may have to restrict its intake to avoid aggravating the already existing compromised health conditions.

Out of 45 countries which produce eggs, India is rightly acclaimed as the cheapest egg producer where it costs just 50 cents a kg at the wholesalers' end compared to 145 cents in Argentina, 80 cents in USA, 102 cents in France, 86 cents in Holland, 108 cents in Japan, 136 cents in New Zealand, 108 cents in Taiwan and 117 cents in Bangladesh. Interestingly the feed cost which constitutes more than 75% of the cost of production is not the lowest in India. That honor goes to Zimbabwe where it is 18 cents per kg while in India feed cost is 44 cents per kg. China, which is the top producer of eggs in the world makes available to its poultry farmers feed at 27 cents a kg while the whole sale price of egg there is 94 cents per kg. In many developed countries feed costs are heavily subsidized to protect the margins of the producers and it is ironical that still the consumers there pay 400 % more to buy an egg compared to an Indian consumer. Similarly the cost of chicks in India is not the lowest as the producer has to pay 39 cents a chick while in Sri Lanka the corresponding figure is 29 cents a chick.

With egg production concentrated in the South, distribution poses tremendous logistical challenges and the infrastructure put in place by the poultry industry can deliver egg to every nook and corner of the country. The role of Governments in this endeavor is practically nil as specially trained drivers, well developed distributor-retailer net work and country wide communication system in place, all industry's own creation, have been able to sustain the industry weathering frequent hiccups from to time. The breakage during handling and transportation and spoilage during storage and retailing have been minimized. It is unfortunate that this industry has not been able to build any infrastructure for washing, grading, pretreatment of eggs for better shelf-life, regional assembling facilities with cold stores, local cold storage facilities and any significant processing platform for value added products from eggs. This has exposed the industry to a situation where it is vulnerable to wide price fluctuations caused by supply and demand stresses. Under these conditions the role of Indian poultry industry in providing to the consumers the cheapest egg in the world is indeed amazing and they deserve all kudos for their ingenuity, enterprise and hard work in making this possible.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/