Feather Meal

Description

Feather meal results from the processing of the feathers obtained after poultry slaughtering. Feather meal is used as a source of protein for farm animals and as a fertilizer. Feathers are a byproduct of broiler, turkey and and other poultry processing operations. Feathers represent 3-7% weight of the live bird, therefore producing a considerable mass of protein.

Distribution

Feathers are produced worldwide. According to FAO, about 24 billion chicken were produced in 2018. Assuming that a chicken weighs 2 kg and that the average percentage of feathers is 5%, the overall amount of chicken feathers in 2018 can be estimated to be 2.4 million t. Other poultry productions (ducks 1.12 billion heads, turkeys 466 million heads and geese 365 million heads) yield an additional 0.42 million t of additional feathers, resulting in a total amount of feathers up to 2.8 million t in 2018

Quality

Feather meal should have a high nutritional value, with guarantees regarding its amino acid profile and protein digestibility, regardless of the quality and origin of the starting material. Pepsin digestibility is used as a method of assessing the quality of feather meal. A pepsin digestibility value of 75 % is considered to be a minimum value to ensure that the feather meal has been adequately processed.

Environmental Impact

Transforming huge amounts of poultry feathers into feather meal allows the disposal of feathers which are otherwise an environmental burden. The Life Cycle Assessment of steam-processed feather meal shows that it has a better environmental impact (lowest CO2 emissions and lowest abiotic depletion measured in Sb equivalent) than poultry fat and poultry by-product meal.