September 8, 2009
Australia free-range egg sector calls for accreditation system
Australian free-range egg farmers have backed calls for an independent accreditation system saying it is urgently needed to protect the sector's integrity.
A recent study found that the number of free-range layers in Australia were incapable to produce the number of free-range eggs sold each year, indicating that as many as one in six eggs labelled free-range on retail shelves were cage or barn-laid.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics' Agricultural Commodities noted the number of chickens for egg production fell three percent in 2007-08, while the Egg Corporation reported a 48.2-percent rise in sales of eggs labelled free range.
The NSW Greens pledged to introduce a bill to create a rigorous definition of free-range eggs and push for an egg labelling accreditation scheme.
Any producer could accredit themselves as free range, and the Egg Corporation's criteria for voluntary accreditation enables large operators to cash in on consumer demand, producing eggs under conditions most people would consider barn-laid, said Ivy Inwood, president of the Free Range Egg and Poultry Association of Australia.
The Egg Corporation said it would support any investigation of egg substitution.
