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As awareness around animal welfare continues to rise, consumers are increasingly willing to pay more for products that meet their expectations for responsible animal stewardship. Robert Yaman, CEO of Innovate Animal Ag, highlights a crucial shift in consumer expectations surrounding food, particularly within the egg category. This heightened awareness is not just a passing trend but a deep change in how people approach their food choices, pushing the industry to innovate and adopt practices that meet these evolving standards of animal welfare.

In the US, 65% of Americans believe food companies should find new ways to ensure humane treatment of farm animals, with 50% willing to pay a premium for such products. Similarly, in Europe, 60% of respondents in a recent Eurobarometer survey expressed willingness to pay more for humanely produced items. 

However, translating consumer sentiment into purchasing behaviour remains a challenge for food businesses. The industry continually seeks ways to meet these expectations without imposing substantial price increases. A new technology in egg production, known as in-ovo sexing, could offer a solution that addresses both ethical concerns and economic considerations. 

One of the unfortunate realities of the egg industry has historically been the practice of 'male chick culling'. The low cost of chicken meat and eggs today is partly due to the development of specialised chicken breeds optimised for producing each product as economically as possible.

An unintended consequence of this is that there’s no economic use for males of the layer breed. They don’t lay eggs, and can’t be used for meat because they’re scrawny and grow too slowly. As a result, egg producers have to pay highly-skilled laborers to look at each chick that was hatched for egg production, to identify which ones are females to be sent to the farm, and which are males to be euthanized immediately.  

This process is not only labour-intensive but also raises significant ethical concerns among consumers. Surveys indicate that 73% of American egg buyers and 75% of European citizens believe the industry should find alternatives to this practice. 

This practice has been a necessary evil in the egg industry – until recently. A new technology called in-ovo sexing is now available which uses advanced biotechnology to look inside the fertilised eggs as they’re developing. Eggs that would hatch males can be removed before the embryo inside has the capacity for pain, allowing egg producers to hatch only females and effectively eliminating the need for male chick culling.  

Solutions for ethical egg production

There are multiple ways to sex an egg, and numerous technology companies are competing to develop the best technology. Some companies use imaging techniques such as hyperspectral imaging or MRI to look inside the egg at the developing embryo, and other technologies take a small fluid sample of each egg to look for sex-identifying markers.  

In-ovo sexing technology has gained significant traction in Western Europe, now accounting for 20% of the market. The technology was initially prominent in Germany and France due to regulatory bans on chick culling, but has now been adopted in countries like Norway and Switzerland, countries without governmental bans. Recently, three major egg companies in the US, have also announced plans to implement this technology in their operations this year. 

The technology company supplying the US market, Agri-Advanced Technologies, is bringing over two machines, each with a potential annual capacity in the tens of millions of hens. This capacity exceeds the immediate needs of the three companies, suggesting an anticipated surge in demand as the technology becomes more widely available. 

There will therefore be a window of opportunity where egg marketers, foodservice providers, and retailers can use this technology as a strong brand differentiator, giving their egg products a much-needed edge for consumers looking for high-welfare eggs. Similar dynamics will play out in other countries as the technology proliferates around the world.  

Transforming the food industry

Business leaders in the food industry have to think about return-on-investment. It may seem crass to think in these terms when it comes to animal welfare, but it’s an important reality of food production. The rapid growth of cage-free egg production in recent years is an interesting comparison. In the US, cage-free egg production has increased from 6% to 40% in the past decade, while in the UK, it has grown from 25% to 80% over 25 years.

Cage-free eggs can add eight-nine cents of additional cost per egg, compared to the one cent or less in additional production cost per egg from an in-ovo sexed hen. Given that consumer attitudes towards chick culling are similar to those towards cages (85% and 84% of Americans find these practices unacceptable, respectively), in-ovo sexing may offer a higher ROI. If cage-free is worth it, in-ovo sexing likely is too.

As the food industry continues to navigate the balance between consumer expectations, ethical considerations, and economic viability, technologies like in-ovo sexing offer promising solutions that are better for animals, farmers, and consumers. For egg producers, food service providers, and retailers, early adoption of this technology could serve as a strong brand differentiator, appealing to consumers seeking higher-welfare egg products at a reasonable cost point. 

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