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Teagasc poultry specialist Rebecca Tierney hosts the Let’s Talk Poultry webinar and on the most recent edition they had a presentation from Prof Patrick Wall of UCD highlighting what the poultry industry is good at and the direction it needs to travel to market output better.
Prof Wall said: “The poultry industry is a good one to be in but I feel you are underselling an exceptional product. As an industry you have to be confident, competitive, and creative to position your product well in the marketplace.”
Wall went on to discuss that poultry farmers are essentially in the human health and nutrition business and never before was there such a focus on health so that should help the poultry sector.
The output from the poultry industry is perfect for various stages of life, whether that’s rapidly growing infants or elderly
Wall highlighted what the dairy industry and strong dairy companies are doing to position product in a much better fashion when the ingredients are right.
Wall suggested that the poultry industry is not positioning the product as a solution for the different stages of life nutrition. He said: “The output from the poultry industry is perfect for various stages of life, whether that’s rapidly growing infants or elderly wanting to enjoy a meal but at the same time needing protein.
“You shouldn’t sell as a commodity product and you need to start a discussion that the egg is a bio-available protein source and follow the dairy industry and plant in the ground the dairy industry has ploughed. There is 6g of protein in an egg and 28g of protein in 100g lean chicken and old people need bio-available protein but can’t handle T-bone steaks so start talking about your product in that light.”
He said modifying the composition of egg by nutrition of hen was possible
He said the poultry industry can deliver easily digested good-quality protein, healthy affordable protein and yet it’s a product that can be enjoyed as food should be on a good social occasion. He said modifying the composition of egg by nutrition of hen was possible and research from the Royal College of Surgeons had shown that feeding enriched chicken meat or eggs delivered cardiovascular benefits and was adding more value. Wall believes that cognitive benefits also exist.
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