4Fingers, Wingstop, Korean fried chicken, Har Cheong Gai, BBQ Chicken Wings, Nene Chicken and Jollibee…what do they have in common?
Pollution…and yes, chicken wings.
Table from : Singapore Food Agency (2019)
The chicken wing industry or more appropriately known as the poultry industry is a fairly pollutive industry. In Singapore, we consume approximately 190 thousand tonnes of chicken every year – that’s around 34kg chicken per capita per year (from the table above)! This is an ongoing increase from 2017 to 2018 and then to 2019. With this increasing demand for chicken considered economical and healthy in Singapore and the rest of the world, chicken farming has expanded. With the expansion of chicken farms, this means that there are a large concentration of chickens being cooped up in a small area, thus an increase as well in faeces and manure production. Interestingly, chicken manure the improper disposal of chicken manure actually causes environmental pollution (Blue, 2017).
Chicken manure contains nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen. With excess nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen in the rivers, this leads to algae bloom. Algae bloom reduces sunlight penetration in water, thus cutting the oxygen supply to underwater plants, also known as eutrophication. This essentially leads to toxic algal or cyanobacterial blooms, thus oxygen depletion of surface waters, release of toxins, massive fish-kills and harm to the aquatic ecosystem. Chicken manure also contains a large amount of heavy metals. Thus chicken manure runoff to rivers would mean the leakage of heavy metals into freshwater streams. The aquatic life in the river would have excess heavy metals in their body, thus leading to bioaccumulation and biomagnification of heavy metals in the food chain. This might lead to us humans consuming fish or with high levels of heavy metals, which will then be detrimental to our body (UPC, 2009).
Chicken manure also produces nitrogen oxides, a component of smog. Smog is a photochemical haze (smoke and fog) caused by the reaction of ultraviolet radiation on atmospheric pollutants with hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen. To reduce the nitrogen emissions from chicken manure, countries have been considering adding digestion-boosting enzymes to chicken feed. According to Casey et al (2006), poultry production operations are a source of numerous airborne contaminants including gases, odour, dust, and microorganisms. Gases and odours are generated from livestock and poultry manure decomposition shortly after it is produced, during storage and treatment, and during land application. Particulate matter and dust are primarily composed of feed and animal matter including hair, feathers, and feces. Microorganisms that populate the gastro-intestinal systems of animals are present in freshly excreted manure. Livestock and poultry buildings may contain concentrations of contaminants that negatively affect human and animal health. Most of these health concerns are associated with chronic or long-term exposure to gases, dust, or microorganisms.
For more information on a case study involving the consequences of pollution in the poultry industry, watch this :
Chicken Waste and Water Pollution
This video, the FRONTLINE: “Poisoned Waters”, highlights the problem of water pollution in the poultry industry, in the context of Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore. They have large-scale chicken farms that dominate the landscape, producing low-cost chicken. However, this means that there is also an excess of chicken manure as a result of this. From the above, this had led to runoff from these farms to rivers and shores like Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore, which are largely unregulated, leading to massive environmental pollution.
References
Singapore Food Agency, 2019. Consumption of Food per Capita. Available at: https://www.sfa.gov.sg/docs/default-source/tools-and-resources/yearly-statistics/per-capita-consumption.pdf [Accessed 2020].
Blue, M.-L., 2017. Ecological Impact of Chicken Farming. Sciencing. Available at: https://sciencing.com/examples-secondary-pollutants-5314906.html [Accessed September 16, 2020].
United Poultry Concerns, 2009. Intensive Poultry Production: Fouling The Environment. United Poultry Concerns. Available at: https://www.upc-online.org/fouling.html [Accessed 2020].
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Open in new tab Casey, Kenneth & Bicudo, José & Schmidt, David & Anshu, Singh & Gay, Susan & Gates, Richard & Jacobson, Larry & Hoff, Steven. (2006). Air quality and emissions from livestock and poultry production/waste management systems.