**Background:** Organic egg production has a market share of 11.4% of total German egg production, twice the overall organic market share of 5.6%. Animal welfare is a primary reason consumers buy organic products, but organic laying hen husbandry faces sustainability challenges including keel bone deformities, parasite infections, and mortality rates that are often no better than conventional farming. Trust is essential for organic products as they have credence attributes that consumers cannot verify directly. This study conducts a hotspot analysis (HSA) to identify sustainability weaknesses along the entire production cycle of organic laying hen husbandry in Germany, from breeding to slaughter, and assesses these as potential risk points for losing consumer trust.
**Methods:** The HSA followed a five-step procedure based on Wallbaum and Kummer (2006) and Liedtke et al. (2010). Six life phases were defined: breeding, keeping, feeding, animal health, transport, and slaughter. Criteria were organized into three categories: ecological (breeds/genetic lines, energy, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, land use, biodiversity, water/soil/air emissions, by-products), social (working conditions, social stability, workers' health, human rights, income, education and training, consumers' health, product quality), and animal welfare (animal protection). Each life phase and criterion was rated 1-3 (low to high relevance/sustainability problems). Total ratings were calculated by multiplication; values of 6 or 9 were classified as hotspots. Literature was sourced from Google Scholar, Organic Eprints, ScienceDirect, and Web of Sciences, focusing on publications from 2000 onward, in German or English, relevant to Europe/Germany. Nine experts (3 scientists, 3 practitioners, 3 opinion leaders) were interviewed via Zoom to validate findings and identify trust risks.
**Key Results:** The life phase breeding received a rating of 3 (high relevance) with five hotspots: breeds/genetic lines (rating 6) due to monopolization and dependency; land use (6) due to lower resource efficiency of slow-growing/dual-purpose breeds; biodiversity (9) due to 50% reduction in genetic diversity compared to original breeds (Muir et al. 2008); by-products (6) from culling of male chicks; and animal welfare (9) from breeding-related health disorders including osteoporosis, inflammation, feather pecking (heritability 0.10-0.14), and keel bone damage (bone strength heritability 0.40). Keeping received a low rating (1) with no hotspots, though nitrogen emissions in free-range systems reach 1500-2000 kg N/ha. Feeding (rating 2) had one hotspot: land use (6) due to 19-25% lower organic yields and 52.6% yield gap for organic grain in 2020. Animal health (rating 3) had three hotspots: breeds/genetic lines used (6), education and training (6), and animal welfare (9). March et al. (2019) found organic management performed better in 29% of comparisons and conventional in 36%. Jung et al. (2020) reported mean mortality of 5.7%, foot pad lesions in 30.5% of flocks, keel bone damage in 44.5%, and high parasite burden in 57.3% of flocks across 107 organic farms. Transport (rating 3) had four hotspots: organization (6), education and training (6), product quality (6), and animal welfare (9). DOA rates for laying hens range from 0.27-2.5%. Slaughter (rating 3) had six hotspots: used equipment/training (6), water demand and pollution (9) with one facility using 1.5 million liters daily for 160,000 chickens, education and training (6), working conditions (9) with service contracts covering ~90% of employment, product quality (6), and animal welfare (9). Expert interviews confirmed these findings, with experts particularly highlighting breeding and transport/slaughter as critical trust risks.
**Clinical Implications:** The study identifies that organic laying hen husbandry faces significant sustainability challenges, particularly in upstream (breeding) and downstream (transport/slaughter) phases where organic-specific regulations are lacking. The culling of male chicks (banned in Germany from 2022), breeding-related health disorders, and animal welfare violations during transport and slaughter represent the highest trust risks. Experts recommend stricter EU regulations for organic transport and slaughter, including maximum 200 km transport distance and 4-hour duration, linking organic certification to animal welfare standards at slaughter, and stronger enforcement of existing regulations. The organic sector must address these weaknesses to maintain consumer trust, as failure to meet expectations can lead to disappointment and reduced willingness to buy organic products.