Egg flock size linked to profitability as well as salmonella

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

According to a report in USA Today published in early September, there is a definite link between large flock size and Salmonella enteritidis. Not to mention large flock size and . . . profitability.

Citing a paper destined for publication in January in the journal Poultry Science, the newspaper says that, on average, large-scale U.S. layer operations with more than 100,000 hens per house are four times more likely to test positive for Salmonella enteritidis than smaller houses with fewer than 100,000 hens. The story also referred to the low profit margins that egg producers make on a dozen eggs.

Jeffrey Armstrong, dean of the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University, East Lansing, pegged the break-even point for farmers producing conventional eggs in a cage system at about a million birds.

With fewer numbers, operators aren't producing enough eggs to be able to clean and pack them on site for sale straight to supermarkets. Middlemen suck the profits out of the deals.

Another reason some farms have grown larger is because, to sell to major retail grocers and fast-food restaurants, "you must get large enough to fill their needs not only for the eggs needed, but also to meet their requirements for food safety and animal welfare," says Mitch Head, spokesman for the United Egg Producers.

Does that mean those farms in Illinois, where half a billion eggs were recalled after salmonella sickened 1,400 people, weren't big enough? BF