• Livestock

Finally you have decided to cook hen!

After the laying period hens have limited value and producers have to dispose of them at a substantial cost. As the depopulation of the poultry shed is both hard work and constitutes a cost for the farmer, investments to improve hen welfare in this part of the production chain are challenging. If the birds had a higher financial value and were viewed as a resource also after the laying period they would be potentially handled more carefully and procedures around them being sent to slaughter could be optimized to increase quality, instead of the current aim to only reduce costs. An increased use of hen meat would also be more environmentally sustainable, as a large amount of hen meat today is simply destroyed and not consumed. A higher appreciation and value of the meat would therefore be relevant. This technical note provides a set of recipes developed by a Swedish celebrity chef to inspire the Swedish food industry and consumers to use hen meat as a potentially viable source of meat for consumption. Hen meat provides a tasty, sustainable, safe and cheap food item.