Why are eggs contributing to a green future?
Living in a society of a growing population and limited resources, the egg is recognized as a very precious food throughout the world. Many consumers already recognize and appreciate the health benefits of eggs. However, in many parts of the word the nutritional aspects are still underestimated. The same can be said for the positive impact of animal nutrition on eggs. Do you know how they correlate with each other?
Why are eggs contributing to a green future?
The average person on earth consumes around 173 eggs per year. Despite the fact there is no general recommendation on egg consumption, it is undeniable that eggs play an important role to nourish the ever-growing world population in a sustainable way.
Due to common estimations, the global population will have risen to nine billion in 2050. Therefore, it is no surprise that the demand for meat, milk and eggs will increase by then about 70 percent. Besides an increasing demand for eggs that can be observed, there are still places in the world with low egg consumption, like India, Portugal and Poland as well as the South Asian countries Vietnam and Philippines. Moreover, nutritional aspects and health benefits are often underestimated or not known. The same can be said for the effects of animal nutrition on egg quality. Did you know that the addition of plant-based active ingredients to a hen’s diet can bring advantages to all of us?
Good reasons that the pioneer and market leader in phytogenic feed additives, Delacon, started a project to raise the awareness of this precious source of protein.
Delacon’s Green Egg Project
Besides educating people globally about the health benefits for consumers, we want to let people know that feeding the hen with plant-based ingredients can also bring advantages to several other stakeholders:
The consumer can benefit from high-quality eggs more than eleven vitamins and minerals, while being sure that the laying hen is healthy.
Moreover, phytogenic feed additives have the power to improve feed conversion, increase laying rate and enhance egg weight and egg mass through improved nutrient and amino acid utilization and digestibility – main benefits for animals and producers.
Last but not least, also the environment can benefit from using phytogenics in a hen’s diet. The combination of highly active components of selected essential oils, herbs and spices reduces the carbon footprint.
The Green Egg project aims:
- to increase consumer awareness of the nutritional and health benefits of poultry eggs as natural and precious source of protein
- to strengthen and support the poultry layer industry
- with a global cause of feeding the world with safe and sustainable food.
How to bring these benefits close to people worldwide?
Many people might not know about the impact that animal nutrition has on important egg attributes. As we are taking our leading role seriously, we are bringing this information close to people, not only in written form, but also through events.
As the Philippines are one of the countries with a low egg consumption, we find a Philippine school would be a great place for an initial Green Egg event in July 2017. Within the framework of the government nutrition month, we celebrated with 1,600 students the health and nutritional benefits of eggs. Thanks to a Delacon customer, who provided more than 10,800 eggs for the kids, they could prepare their favorite egg meal at home.
Because of this great success, another Green Egg event has taken place recently. This time in Vietnam.
Happy Word Egg Day from the Delacon family!
Besides valuing the egg as precious source with people all around the world, we took the World Egg Day as great opportunity to celebrate it as a family too. Eggstra-fun was guaranteed to all of us, as we started with an egg tapping competition. A great game not only during Easter time! Moreover, we exchanged our favorite egg recipes, spent valued time together and shared Green Egg success stories.
Marlene Forrai
Storyteller, foodie, life-long learner – may be the three words that describe me best. Unfortunately, you cannot make a living by only eating food, even though it’s healthy. Therefore, I have developed my skills in Marketing, Online Communications and Content Management to enlighten people around the globe about the power of nature and its contribution to animal as well as human health. Since February 2022, Marlene started a new career path outside of Delacon.
