Welfare Footprint Institute
The Welfare Footprint of the Egg — book cover

Forthcoming from CRC Press

The Welfare Footprint of the Egg

The first comprehensive quantification of animal welfare across the full lifecycle of an animal-sourced food product — from hatchery to slaughter — grounded in time-based, biologically meaningful units.

60+
Contributing scientists
34
Chapters
140
Affective experiences analyzed
3
Production systems
About this work

The first full Welfare Footprint of an animal-derived product.

The Welfare Footprint of the Egg is the first comprehensive quantification of animal welfare across the full lifecycle of an animal-sourced food product—from hatchery to slaughter. Applying the Welfare Footprint Framework, the book translates the lived experiences of laying hens, breeders, and male chicks into biologically grounded, quantitative metrics that are familiar to different audiences: the cumulative time they spend in affective states of varying intensity, including pain, fear, hunger, and frustration.

This work is the product of collaboration with over 60 leading poultry welfare scientists worldwide and offers a rigorous, decision-relevant assessment of welfare outcomes across major egg production systems: conventional cages, furnished cages, and cage-free systems. Each welfare challenge—whether physical injury, disease, behavioral restriction, or handling stress—is analyzed in terms of its intensity, duration, and prevalence, enabling multiple comparisons of welfare impact across practices, systems, and geographies.

Beyond establishing welfare footprints per egg, the project will provide detailed estimates of the welfare consequences of specific practices and reforms, such as bans on male chick culling, the adoption of new methods for mass depopulation, the critical role of early-life enrichment and positive welfare, and the impact of on-farm hatching practices. These findings clarify where—and how—animal welfare can be improved most effectively.

More than a reference text, The Welfare Footprint of the Egg advances the field of animal welfare science by introducing a common quantitative framework for assessing and comparing lived experiences across systems, species, and contexts. By grounding animal welfare in quantitative, biologically meaningful units, it enables integration of welfare impacts into economic models, food labeling systems, and public policy. It equips researchers with a common analytical framework, offers policymakers tools for regulation, and empowers industry actors and advocates to identify the most effective interventions .

This book also serves as a blueprint for applying welfare footprinting to other animal products—laying the scientific and institutional groundwork for a new class of welfare metrics, analogous in function and influence to Disability-Adjust-Life-Years (DALYs) and Quality-Adjusted-Life-Years (QALYs) in public health, or environmental footprints in the environmental sciences.

Part I · Production systems

Four commercial systems

Single-tier aviary
Cage-free

Single-tier aviary

Single usable level, floor litter, elevated perches and integrated nest boxes.

Contents

Table of contents

Each chapter lists its lead contributors and, where applicable, expands into the affective experiences it quantifies. Each experience opens its own analytical page.

Contributors

Over 60 leading poultry welfare scientists

Developed in collaboration with researchers from across academic, veterinary and welfare science communities worldwide. Listed alphabetically.

  • Dr. Alessandra Piccirillo
    University of Padua
  • Dr. Amy Murillo
    University of California
  • Dr. Ashleigh Bright
  • Prof. Dr. Bas Rodenburg
    Utrecht University
  • Prof. Dr. Christine Nicol
    Bristol University
  • Dr. Courtney Daigle
    Texas A&M University
  • Dr. Cynthia Schuck-Paim
    Welfare Footprint Institute
  • Dr. Dana Campbell
    CSIRO
  • Dr. Davide Giovinardi
    European College of Poultry Veterinary Science
  • Dr. Dean Powell
    Good Food Institute
  • Dr. Deborah Temple
    University of Barcelona
  • Dr. Dominic Wright
    Linköping University
  • Dr. Elsa Negro Calduch
    Welfare Footprint Institute
  • Dr. Fernanda Tahamtani
    Norwegian Meat and Poultry Research Center
  • Dr. Frank Tuyttens
    Ghent University
  • Dr. Gwendolen Reyes-Illg
    Animal Welfare Institute
  • Dr. Gigi Lin
    BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food
  • Prof. Dr. Harry Blokhuis
    Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
  • MSc Hayley Sutherland
    Purdue University
  • Prof. Dr. Ida Thøfner
    University of Copenhagen
  • Dr. Inga Tiemann
    Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences
  • Dr. Ingrid de Jong
    Wageningen University
  • Dr. Janice Siegford
    Michigan State University
  • Dr. Jasper Heerkens
    Aeres University of Applied Sciences
  • Prof. Dr. Jean-Loup Rault
    University of Veterinary Medicine
  • Prof. Dr. Jens Peter Christensen
    University of Copenhagen
  • Dr. Jo Edgar
    Bristol University
  • Dr. Kaitlin Wurtz
    Welfare Footprint Institute
  • Dr. Kate Hartcher
    Welfare Footprint Institute
  • Dr. Kazim Sahin
    Firat University
  • Dr. Kyung-Woo Lee
    Konkuk University
  • Dr. Leonie Jacobs
    Virginia Tech
  • Dr. Leisha Hewitt
  • Prof. Dr. Linda J. Keeling
    Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
  • Dr. Louise Hedlund
    Linköping University
  • Dr. Maja Makagon
    University of California
  • Dr. Marisa Erasmus
    Purdue University
  • Dr. Mia Fernyhough
    Humane League
  • Dr. Mehdi Toghyani
    University of Sydney
  • Dr. Mona Giersberg
    Utrecht University
  • MSc Paula Baker
    Bristol University
  • Dr. Pol Llonch
    University of Barcelona
  • Dr. Prafulla Regmi
    University of Georgia
  • Dr. Rebecca Nordquist
    Utrecht University
  • Dr. Roos Molenaar
    Wageningen University
  • Prof. Dr. Ruth C. Newberry
    Norwegian University of Life Sciences
  • Dr. Sabine Gebhardt-Henrich
    University of Bern
  • Dr. Sarah Lambton
    University of Bristol
  • Shay Sadr
    University of Sydney
  • Prof. Stefan Gunnarsson
    Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
  • Dr. Stephanie Buijs
    Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute
  • Dr. Thea van Niekerk
    Wageningen University
  • Dr. Thi Thu Hao Van
    RMIT University
  • Dr. Valentina Bongiorno
    University of Turin
  • Dr. Vicky Sandilands
    Scotland's Rural College
  • Dr. Vivian Goerlich
    Utrecht University
  • Dr. Wladimir J. Alonso
    Welfare Footprint Institute
  • Dr. Wendy Muir
    University of Sydney
  • Prof. Dr. Xavier Manteca
    University of Barcelona
  • Dr. Zack Strong
    Animal Welfare Institute

The science of welfare footprinting: the Welfare Footprint of the Egg

ISAE 2025: A good life for all animals

The Welfare Footprint of the Egg was the focus of a dedicated full-day workshop at the 58th International Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE), held in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

On August 4th, 2025, the Welfare Footprint Institute hosted the satellite event “The Science of Welfare Footprinting: The Welfare Footprint of the Egg”, introducing the scientific community to the book’s methodology, and implications. This workshop was timed to engage researchers ahead of final manuscript submission. Through interactive sessions combining brief presentations, small-group discussions, and hands-on exercises, participants would:

  • Learn how animal welfare footprints are established using cumulative, time-based metrics
  • Explore methodological challenges in quantifying affective states
  • Discuss key research gaps in poultry welfare
  • Consider how welfare footprints can inform policy, sustainability assessments, and economic analysis

This event was intended to support early engagement with the scientific community and strengthen the academic impact of the book.

Congress information