Livestock production, organic

Part II provides detailed information on the main quality and safety issues related to the production of organic livestock foods. This includes three chapters (Chapters 7 to 9) which review the effect of livestock husbandry on nutritional and sensory quality of livestock foods including milk and dairy products (Chapter 7), poultry (Chapter 8) and pork (Chapter 9). It also includes four chapters (Chapters 10 to 13) which review the strategies used to minimise microbiological risks and antibiotic and veterinary medicine use in livestock production systems including safety of ruminants (Chapter 10), mastitis treatment in organic dairy production systems (Chapter 11), internal parasites (Chapter 12) and pigs and poultry (Chapter 13). 

Important food quality and safety issues associated with organic livestock production are addressed further in Part 2 of the book. 

Hansson I, Hamilton C, Ekman T and Forslund K (2000) Carcass quality in certified organic production compared with conventional livestock production . Journal of Veterinary Medicine Series B-Infectious Diseases and Veterinary Public Health, 47, 111-120. 

Bennedsgaard T W, Thamsborg S M, Vaarst M and Enevoldsen C (2003), Eleven years of organic production in Denmark herd health and production related to time of conversion and compared to conventional production , Livestock Production Science, 80, 121-131. 

Sundrum A, (2001), Organic livestock farming a critical review , Livestock Production Science, 67, 207-215. 

Kouba M. (2003). Quality of organic animal products , Livestock Production Science, 80, 33-40. 

Pork is the product of a very complex process. All the various characteristics of pork quality cannot be assessed directly in each carcass because these measurements and assessments would be too expensive. Therefore, previous scientific quality assessment of meat is primarily an indirect approach based on a few easily detectable quantitative traits and on the prescription of minimal standards in relation to the product in terms of size or composition and in relation to the production process. The prescriptions and the exclusion criteria vary between countries or between labelling programmes. The most encompassing prescriptions are enshrined in the EC regulation on organic livestock production (EEC No. 2092/91). Owing to this approach, extreme deviations in quality traits and deleterious effects are prevented. However, there is still space left within these framework conditions for huge variability in pork quality. 

Difference between organic and conventional livestock production... 

Sundrum A (1999), EEC-Regulation on organic livestock production and their contribution to the animal welfare issue , KTBL-Schrift, 270, 93-97. 

Vaarst, M., Padel, S., Hovi, M., Younie, D. and Sundrum, A. (2005), Sustaining animal health and food safety in European organic livestock farming . Livestock Production Science, 94, 61-69. 

This chapter reports the progress made in the development of probiotic, prebiotic and other preventative treatments for gastrointestinal diseases, which have potential for use in organic and low input monogastric livestock production systems. Most of the results discussed focus on research with pigs, but most results should be transferable to other monogastric animals including poultry. 

Refsgaard, K., Halberg, N. and E. S. Kristensen (1998). Energy Utilization in Crop and dairy production in Organic and Conventional Livestock Production systems. Agricultural Systems 57 599-630. 

Hermansen, J.E. 2003. Organic livestock production systems and appropriate development in relation to public expectations. Livestock Production Science 80 3-15. 

Lund, V. and Algers, B. 2003. Research on animal health and welfare in organic farming - a literature review. Livestock Production Science 80 55-68. 

Organic livestock production and animal disease patterns - an overview... 

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