Minister Michael Creed launches the Devenish - 'From Soil to Society' initiative

21st September 2016


Minister Michael Creed launches the Devenish - 'From Soil to Society' initiative

Devenish launches the innovation behind the world's first naturally enriched omega-3 chicken at National Ploughing Championships 2016, supported by human health studies.

Devenish launched their new sustainability initiative entitled 'From Soil to Society...' at the National Ploughing Championships today, Wednesday, 21 September 2016.

Devenish has pioneered the development of animal feed that will improve the health and performance of the animal, the nutritional quality of meat/eggs and the health benefits to humans. For example, Devenish's Food Innovation team has recently developed naturally enriched Omega-3 chicken that will contribute to heart, brain and eye health.

You are what you eat

This is the world's first chicken to be naturally enriched with Omega-3 and supported by human health studies in conjunction with Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

A human health trial was conducted to test the nutritional benefits to humans after consuming Omega-3 chicken and this showed that eating three portions of Omega-3 chicken every week for five weeks increased Omega-3 blood levels by 12%, this increase contributes to healthy hearts and brains and contributes visual acuity.

Previous research has shown that people with the higher levels of omega-3 had a 40% reduction in cardiovascular related deaths, compared to people with the lower levels.

Minister Michelle Creed, Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, commented "Naturally enriching the chickens' diet for animal and human health benefits is an exciting development within the poultry sector. Adding value to primary agricultural outputs in such an innovative and scientific manner is the cutting edge type of approach we are aiming to achieve".

Devenish group CEO, Richard Kennedy, added "According to recent nutritional surveys, most people don’t get enough long-chain Omega 3’s in their diets for optimum health. Omega-3 chicken offers consumers a new dietary source of long-chain Omega 3's. We are very excited by our Omega-3 chicken and the future projects coming from our Food Innovation programme".

Dr. Vanessa Woods, Director of Communication with Devenish said "Our food innovation team has produced a healthy food from healthy feed, and this offers huge scope to promote good health across the nation. This is only one example of innovation delivered by Devenish within our 'From soil to society' initiative and the future is hugely exciting."

Top image: Pictured (L-R) with Minister Creed, launching the Devenish Food Innovation programme that delivered the world’s first Omega-3 chicken supported by human health studies in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, are Dr. Vanessa Woods (Director of Communication, Devenish) and Richard Kennedy (Group CEO, Devenish)

A Hearty Meal – Minister Michael Creed TD, launches Devenish’s world first Omega-3 Chicken, with proven health benefits

Pictured (L-R) with Minister Creed, launching the Devenish Food Innovation programme that delivered the world’s first Omega-3 chicken supported by human health studies in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, are Emma McDonald (Devenish), Dr. Vanessa Woods (Director of Communication, Devenish) and Richard Kennedy (Group CEO, Devenish), Dr. Morgan Sheehy (Devenish)

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