Producing specialist poultry products to meet human nutrition requirements: Selenium enriched eggs

During the last decade it has become obvious that, while our lifestyle, including diet, stress, smoking, medical issues, exercise, and genetics are major determinants of human health status, it is diet that plays a central role. The effect of nutrition on human health has received substantial attention, and even ‘traditional’ medicinal philosophies that state that diet and nutrients play only limited roles in human health is being revised. In most developed countries nutritional practices have changed the focus from combating nutrient deficiencies to addressing nutrient requirements for maintaining good health throughout life. The role of selenium (Se) in human health and diseases has been discussed in detail in several recent reviews, with the main conclusion being that Se deficiency is recognised as a global problem which needs solving urgently. Analysing recent publications that relate human health to useful poultry products, it is evident that Se-enriched eggs can be used as an important delivery system of this trace mineral for humans. In particular, developments and commercialisation of organic forms of selenium has initiated a new era in the availability of selenium-enriched products. It has been shown that egg selenium content can be easily manipulated to give increased levels, especially when organic selenium is included in hen's diet at levels that provide 0.3-0.5 ppm Se in feed. As a result, technology for the production of eggs delivering ~50% (30–35 μg) of the human selenium RDA have been developed and successfully tested. Currently companies all over the world market Se-enriched eggs including the UK, Ireland, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine. Prices for enriched eggs vary from country to country, typically being similar to free-range eggs. The scientific, technological and other advantages and limitations of producing designer/modified eggs as functional foods are discussed in this paper.