The end of 2010 is upon us, although it appears that the issues facing the industry continue in the same vein, and are set to do so for some time to come. Aside from the general malaise in the world economy, with some companies being more adversely affected than others, a large part of the world once again has had problem harvests. The wet weather in Northern Europe, fires in Eastern Europe and flooding in Asia and Australasia have caused major problems with arable crops. Whilst working in Northern Europe over their summer, the poor harvest was very evident. Crops standing in the fields turning brown are never a pleasant sight – especially for a nutritionist. Fears now abound regarding the nutritional value and the risk of high fungal contamination in cereals, and predictions for very high cereal costs abound. Let’s see how things pan out – but one thing is sure – costs of poultry production will inevitably increase in the next few months.

However, the poultry industry is nothing if not a survivor of harsh economic conditions. As the price of human food continues to increase, the relative affordability of chicken meat and eggs still means they are a cheap protein alternative compared to red meats on the supermarket shelf. Hopefully this will make them a more attractive proposition to consumers, if the media are right in their assertion that increasing numbers of people are budgeting for their weekly food purchases.

In this issue of the Journal, we have reached somewhat of a landmark position, as this issue contains the last of the papers that were submitted under our old, direct submission system. All papers from now on will have come through the online system via ScholarOne, which most users seem to be getting used to – and thanks to all of those who have helped us out and given feedback during the initial usage of the new system. The new submission system does allow us to process more papers in an efficient manner, and there’s little chance of papers going missing in the ether of emails now – which was always a worry. We have a good mix of disciplines being reviewed this quarter, and we continue to encourage authors to submit papers on a variety of topics in the Journal. So it only remains for me to wish all our contributors and readers seasons greeting and a prosperous 2011.

Dr Lucy Waldron

Editor