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3 Caged eggs VS free-range
Woolworths (Australia's major supermarket) announced today that they will be ceasing the purchase of caged hen's eggs, and selling free-range only.Is there something we don't know ?
Are free-range eggs really from hens who live their lives on the farm awakening with a rooster when they want ?
Do free-range hens laying eggs for Woolworths really have this luxury ? Or does "free-range" include less desirable farming and living conditions ?
Answers
+1
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This is why we need food tracking across all food types.
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Unfortunately "free range" has been implicated in this news release, so your suspicion is well-founded.
150,000 male chicks who hatch every 24 hours are separated from females, and, because they are unable to be raised for egg production, callously tossed into chutes which haul them away to their deaths.
"They are destined to die on day one because they cannot produce eggs and do not grow large or fast enough to be raised profitably for meat," the group said.
"Their lives are cut short when they are dropped into a grinding machine" in which they are "torn to pieces".
"Over 30 million male chicks meet their fate this way each year at this facility," Mercy for Animals said.
The group said females chicks endure weeks of "cruelty and confinement at the hands of the egg industry", including having their beaks broken off and being crowded 100 to a box for shipment across the United States.
Mercy said the cruel treatment even occurs at companies purporting to raise "free-roaming" hens.
"These deceptive marketing gimmicks conceal the cruel and violent nature of industrial hatcheries and egg factory farms", the group's statement said.
The group called on US grocery chains to label eggs in their store with a label reading: "Warning -- Male chicks are ground-up alive by the egg industry."
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/baby-chicks-ground-alive-by-poultry-producer-activists-20090903-f8nt.html
150,000 male chicks who hatch every 24 hours are separated from females, and, because they are unable to be raised for egg production, callously tossed into chutes which haul them away to their deaths.
"They are destined to die on day one because they cannot produce eggs and do not grow large or fast enough to be raised profitably for meat," the group said.
"Their lives are cut short when they are dropped into a grinding machine" in which they are "torn to pieces".
"Over 30 million male chicks meet their fate this way each year at this facility," Mercy for Animals said.
The group said females chicks endure weeks of "cruelty and confinement at the hands of the egg industry", including having their beaks broken off and being crowded 100 to a box for shipment across the United States.
Mercy said the cruel treatment even occurs at companies purporting to raise "free-roaming" hens.
"These deceptive marketing gimmicks conceal the cruel and violent nature of industrial hatcheries and egg factory farms", the group's statement said.
The group called on US grocery chains to label eggs in their store with a label reading: "Warning -- Male chicks are ground-up alive by the egg industry."
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/baby-chicks-ground-alive-by-poultry-producer-activists-20090903-f8nt.html
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Well, this article reveals that free-range can actually be caged. Regulation is not what it seems.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/scramble-to-verify-freerange-eggs-20090907-fczo.html
FREE-RANGE egg farmers have backed calls for an independent accreditation system which they say is urgently needed to protect the sector's integrity.
Doubts about the egg industry's ability to police its producers have been raised after an analysis found the total of free-range layer hens in the country were incapable of producing the total of free-range eggs sold each year, and as many as one in six eggs labelled free range on retail shelves were cage or barn-laid.
Despite providing annual figures on the number of free-range eggs sold, the Australian Egg Corporation has admitted it has no way of knowing how many free-range layer hens exist.
No government agency collects such data, but the Bureau of Statistics' Agricultural Commodities noted the number of chickens for egg production fell 3 per cent in 2007-08. At the same time the Egg Corporation was reporting a 48.2 per cent rise in sales of eggs labelled free range.
The NSW Greens pledged yesterday to introduce a bill to create a rigorous definition of free-range eggs and push for an egg labelling accreditation scheme.
The president of the Free Range Egg and Poultry Association of Australia, Ivy Inwood, said any producer could accredit themselves as free range, and the Egg Corporation's criteria for voluntary accreditation was enabling large operators to cash in on consumer demand, producing eggs under conditions most people would consider barn-laid.
The Egg Corporation said it would support any investigation of egg substitution. Its website says it uses third-party auditors for its accreditation program.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/scramble-to-verify-freerange-eggs-20090907-fczo.html
FREE-RANGE egg farmers have backed calls for an independent accreditation system which they say is urgently needed to protect the sector's integrity.
Doubts about the egg industry's ability to police its producers have been raised after an analysis found the total of free-range layer hens in the country were incapable of producing the total of free-range eggs sold each year, and as many as one in six eggs labelled free range on retail shelves were cage or barn-laid.
Despite providing annual figures on the number of free-range eggs sold, the Australian Egg Corporation has admitted it has no way of knowing how many free-range layer hens exist.
No government agency collects such data, but the Bureau of Statistics' Agricultural Commodities noted the number of chickens for egg production fell 3 per cent in 2007-08. At the same time the Egg Corporation was reporting a 48.2 per cent rise in sales of eggs labelled free range.
The NSW Greens pledged yesterday to introduce a bill to create a rigorous definition of free-range eggs and push for an egg labelling accreditation scheme.
The president of the Free Range Egg and Poultry Association of Australia, Ivy Inwood, said any producer could accredit themselves as free range, and the Egg Corporation's criteria for voluntary accreditation was enabling large operators to cash in on consumer demand, producing eggs under conditions most people would consider barn-laid.
The Egg Corporation said it would support any investigation of egg substitution. Its website says it uses third-party auditors for its accreditation program.
