There are many misconceptions surrounding the Australian poultry industry and the Poultry Cooperative Research Centre want to do something about it.
Poultry Hub report that Dr Peta Taylor from the University of New England and colleagues are attempting to get to the bottom of perceptions of hen welfare and the Australian egg industry and how these may differ related to specific demographics, experiences and professions.
The team, including Huw Nolan from UNE and Dr Lauren Hemsworth from the Animal Welfare Science Centre at the University of Melbourne, ran focus groups with industry and community members focusing discussions around hen welfare, industry practices and misconceptions of industry.
Numerous misconceptions about the egg industry were identified during the community stakeholder group, highlighting a lack of understanding about industry scale, housing and management processes.
“We observed interesting dynamics between the community participants, where one member would offer incorrect information which was rarely challenged by the rest of the group, indeed these statements often resulted in strong statements against the egg industry from the rest of the group,” Dr Taylor said.
Dr Taylor said the focus groups highlighted problems with a lack of knowledge, information sources, unrealistic perceptions and the use of emotionally loaded words amongst community members.
A national survey is currently underway with aims to address such issues.
- This first appeared on www.poultryhub.org.
