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Describes a study to measure the quality of service provided by food‐poisoning surveillance agencies in England and Wales in terms of the requirements of a representative consumer ‐ the egg producing industry ‐ adopting “egg associated” outbreak investigation reports as the reference output. Defines and makes use of four primary performance indicators: accessibility of information; completeness of evidence supplied in food‐poisoning outbreak investigation reports as to the sources of infection in “egg‐associated” outbreaks; timeliness of information published; and utility of information and advice aimed at preventing or controlling food poisoning. Finds that quality expectations in each parameter measured are not met. Examines reasons why surveillance agencies have not delivered the quality demanded. Makes use of detailed case studies to illustrate inadequacies of current practice. Attributes failure to deliver “accessibility” to a lack of recognition on the status or nature of “consumers”, combined with a self‐maintenance motivation of the part of the surveillance agencies. Finds that failures to deliver “completeness” and “utility” may result from the same defects which give rise to the lack of “accessibility” in that, failing to recognize the consumers of a public service for what they are, the agencies feel no need to provide them with the data they require. The research indicates that self‐maintenance by scientific epidemiologists may introduce biases which when combined with a politically inspired need to transfer responsibility for food‐poisoning outbreaks, skew the conduct of investigations and their conclusions. Contends that this is compounded by serious and multiple inadequacies in the conduct of investigations, arising at least in part from the lack of training and relative inexperience of investigators, the whole conditioned by interdisciplinary rivalry between the professional groups staffing the different agencies. Finds that in addition failures to exploit or develop epidemiological technologies has affected the ability of investigators to resolve the uncertainties identified. Makes recommendations directed at improving the performance of the surveillance agencies which, if adopted will substantially enhance food poisoning control efforts.

All methods of egg preservation aim to prevent the entry and growth of spoilage or pathogenic micro‐organisms which would make the egg unpalatable or dangerous to health. Although the contents of chickens' eggs are sterile on laying, the shell surface may be contaminated with many micro‐organisms — on average there may be 130,000 bacteria on the shell of an egg. Most of these organisms, which come from the nest litter or the bird's excreta, will spoil the egg but are not harmful to health, for example Pseudomonas fluorescens which causes ‘green rot’ and off‐odours if allowed to penetrate the egg and grow. Some of the contaminating organisms may be pathogenic, food‐poisoning bacteria such as Salmonella species, which are sometimes present in chicken droppings, but pathogens are very rare in chickens' eggs. Similar salmonellae have been implicated in numerous food‐poisoning outbreaks associated with duck eggs, as the aquatic environment of the duck encourages their growth and on no account should duck eggs be preserved.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the profitability of urban chicken production in the medium-sized cities of Kisumu and Thika, Kenya.

Data were collected in 2016 from a sample of 157 indigenous chicken producers in the two cities. Descriptive analyses were used to characterize indigenous chicken production, marketing and profitability. In addition, multivariate regression models were estimated to determine factors influencing profitability of the enterprise.

Urban indigenous chicken production mainly serves a dual role of food provision and income generation. The enterprise is profitable, generating an average gross margin of Ksh. 756/bird. The multivariate regression models show that access to high-value markets, household income level and the type of production system used significantly affect profitability of indigenous chicken farming. However, poultry diseases and high input costs especially feed are the major constraints to poultry farming.

This study has used cross-sectional data that provides information for only one point in time. Future research should be able to capture the seasonality of indigenous chicken production.

This study has shown that indigenous chicken production in urban areas is a viable and profitable enterprise, which could provide an avenue for employment and income generation.

Studies assessing profitability of urban agricultural enterprises are scant. Thus, this study provides insights on the profitability of a common urban agriculture enterprise.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of farmers regarding the on-farm food safety measures in the commercial layer farms in Thailand prior the implementation of the mandatory Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standard.

The cross-sectional study was conducted through the face-to-face interview with a questionnaire in 143 GAP certified and 59 non-GAP certified farms. The levels of safety and quality measures implemented in farms were evaluated using a self-reported approach. Scoring system was applied to investigate the relationship between level of practices and its determining factors using the correlation test.

The layer hen farmers appeared to have an adequate level of knowledge on safety and quality measures; however, some misconception on recommended practices was still observed. The significant differences (p<0.001) in the regularity of practices adopted in farms were noticed between GAP and non-GAP groups. The GAP farmers have higher level of knowledge, and positive attitudes toward implementation. Only the weak positive relationships were found between all KAP variables which implied that there are other factors influencing the translation of knowledge and favorable attitudes into practices.

None of the on-farm food safety KAP report has been published in Thailand. This study highlights the gaps in the practices and issues needed to be focused by standard promoters for developing the knowledge translation programs aimed at enhancing the standard of layer farming.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact of microcredit on smallholder poultry production and its subsequent role on domestic protein and food supply.

Cross-sectional farm-level data from 61 farmers with at least two years of microcredit access and 39 farmers without microcredit access in the Dormaa Municipality of Ghana collected in 2016 via semi-structured questionnaire were used. Using the propensity score matching, PSM, and data envelopment analyses approaches, the authors analysed the propensity of farmers’ taking microcredit and its effect on beneficiaries’ technical efficiency, productivity, profitability and domestic production of chicken and eggs, farm performance. The authors addressed selection biases with the PSM and answered the research question of whether farmers with microcredit access perform better than non-microcredit farmers.

Farmers with high years of education, farming experience, technology and machinery as well as micro-savings and female farmers are more likely to take microcredit whereas large farm size reduces farmers’ propensity to take microcredit. Furthermore, farms with microcredit access were more technically efficient, productive and profitable than they would have been in the absence of microcredit.

The paper can be useful to policymakers and microcredit institutions since it provides evidence of microeconomic impacts of microcredit on agricultural production and the determinants of farmers’ participation in microcredit.

The study helps to understand how access to credit can improve smallholders’ technology adoption, production efficiency and productivity and output thereby enhancing domestic food supply.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct consumer profile analysis for chicken, beef, mutton, fish and egg to better adapt the marketing mix for each type of food in Bangladesh.

This paper investigates the mean consumption frequency of chicken, beef, mutton, fish and egg, following 658 questionnaire survey results. The sociodemographic variables used in this study were: sex, age, gender, educational level, social class, number of family members in the home, the presence of minors less than 18 years in the home and geographical area. Frequency distribution, factor and cluster analysis were performed to understand the food consumption frequency and food-related lifestyle segment, respectively. The statistical significance for differences among the mean values of different foods was tested by Snedecor’s F-test.

Egg was the most frequently consumed; 77 per cent of respondents ate egg once daily. Chicken was the second most consumed (62 per cent), whereas fish was third (59 per cent). Mutton was in the fourth place of consumption frequency level. However, 24 per cent of respondents did not consume mutton. The same types of behaviour were observed for beef, which was the least consumed (7 per cent) once daily, 48 per cent once a week, whereas 13 per cent did not consume it. There was no specific consumer behaviour pattern for the sociodemographic variables and types of food studied here.

This research provides the status of consumer preferences towards chicken, beef, mutton, fish and egg consumption in Bangladesh.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the welfare cost resulted from an increase in food prices in the three most populous countries of south Asia (Pakistan, India and Bangladesh).

The effect of rising food prices on consumer welfare is analyzed by using the compensating variation technique. The measurement of the total consumer welfare effect requires the estimation of price elasticities which are calculated by using linear approximation version of the almost ideal demand system.

The results indicate that cereals (wheat, rice) are relatively price inelastic. However, protein-rich food items like chicken and mutton are relatively more income elastic where consumer welfare declines in all countries mainly for cereals and milk, as these food items are relatively less elastic to price fluctuations.

Pakistan, India and Bangladesh represent together about 37 percent of the total world undernourished population. This study suggests that government should target the most vulnerable consumers (low-income group) to improve the income level in these countries.

It is the first effort to estimate and compare that how food inflation affects the consumer welfare in the most populated countries of South Asia. This type of study is also important for the policy planners to overcome the welfare cost under different setting of price and income so it is an effort toward this direction.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new direction for managing information‐credibility risk in the current information and communications technology (ICT) era, where ICT has had both positive and negative effects on contemporary society.

The paper takes a practical and inductive approach to study the Kyoto avian influenza panic and countermeasures taken in 2004.

The paper identifies factors which led to enormous damage through harmful rumors and proposes new perspectives for devising countermeasures, such as increasing consumer confidence in an agency as a source of information and effective management of knowledge transfer from experts to non‐experts.

The study gains a better understanding of both technological and social factors that enable or detract from effective nationwide management of information‐credibility risk. Many related ICT projects have been based on either human resource systems or advanced technology. It considers the integration of both factors from three perspectives.

This is a new perspective for examining the transfer of knowledge from experts to consumers in terms of practical solutions, in contrast to the many existing knowledge‐related articles that have mainly focused on knowledge management among experts.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of awareness of and compliance with chicken feed standards among chicken farmers in Tanzania.

A total of 107 respondents in two regions were selected through simple random sampling. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression approaches were used in data analysis.

The results revealed that the level of awareness of standards is low and the compliance level is even lower at the same time as the data indicated a positive relation between awareness and compliance. Attending seminars, knowledge dissemination by extension agents, farmers’ awareness of the existence of other standards and health consciousness have a significant and positive influence on awareness of feed standards while the age of the farm and dependence on farm formulated feeds have a significant negative influence on awareness of standards. On the other hand; knowledge dissemination by TBS, awareness of chicken feed standards and awareness of the existence of other standards apart from chicken feed standards, have a significant positive influence on compliance with feed standards.

These findings indicate that regulators should invest more in awareness creation campaigns to enhance compliance with feed standards at the same time as feed processors should develop closer knowledge and learning links to farmers.

The findings of the study are expected to positively contribute to performance of chicken industry in Tanzania by promoting production of products that are of quality accepted domestically and abroad.

Advice about the role of eggs in the diet has changed several times over the decades. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate published evidence reporting associations between egg consumption, egg nutrients and health.

The scientific literature was searched using Medline and key words relevant to eggs and egg nutrients. In addition, a new secondary analysis of the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) was undertaken to examine nutritional and health differences between consumers and non‐consumers of eggs.

Eggs are a rich source of protein and several essential nutrients, particularly vitamin D, vitamin B12, selenium and choline. Emerging evidence suggests that eating eggs is associated with satiety, weight management and better diet quality. In addition, antioxidants found in egg yolk may help prevent age‐related macular degeneration. The secondary analysis showed that regular egg consumers with a low red and processed meat (RPM) intake ate healthier diets and had a better micronutrient status than those who did not eat eggs but who had a high RPM intake. It was concluded that egg consumption, at a range of intakes, was associated with nutrition and health benefits.

More research on eggs, and egg nutrients, is needed to confirm the health benefits. Future studies should control for other dietary and lifestyle factors.

This paper develops knowledge about egg consumption beyond cholesterol content and provides new evidence from a secondary analysis of a large national dietary database.