More egg-product imports for the EU
By John Farrant
WHILE the US egg processing industry debates the final update of its egg pasteurisation guidelines, EU processors at the IEC Conference, in Bergen, Norway debated their future under a culture for systems that puts less pressure on livestock and threatens to increase the amount of imports.
Dr Glenn Froning from the University of Nebrasaka summed up the new pasteurisation manual, which updates the 1969 version in line with changes in the industry.
Main specifications focus on the pH, time and temperature requirements to obtain a good kill of salmonella in egg white, yolk and blended products.
To illustrate the changes going on in the EU, Dr Gert van Dijk from Holland told the story of the frog that was cooked so slowly that it did not jump out of the water.
The best the egg industry can hope for is to slow the pace of change from an optimum efficiency system of farming, aiming for physiological maxima, to what is perceived to be kinder to animals.
He said that the reverse was proven to be true of this perception – lower inputs per unit of output resulted in less pollution and less pain per unit of production.
But producers in the EU were driven by a rich society in world terms, where culture was more important than economics.
Unfortuately this society knew that producers generally wanted to continue in livestock production, so that they would accept increases in costs without higher returns, hence lower margins.
Lobbying politicians was clearly achieving nothing to stop this process, but more could be achieved, he suggested, by attempting to get the message over direct to the public via the media.
The alternative for the egg processing sector was imports that would replace EU production, as this lower priced product could not be kept out.
This bleak prospect affects the whole egg sector as the higher costs of the EU Welfare of Laying Hens Directive bite.
The best it can do is to slow the pace of change and where value is added to get rewards.
Dr van Dijk had three solutions beyond gaining public support – to find new markets, strong branding and forming supply alliances.