Crackdown on ‘free range’ labelling

Under a plan hatched by Better Regulation Minister Victor Dominello, eggs would be labelled as having been produced on properties with 1500 birds a hectare, 5000 birds a hectare or 10,000 a hectare.

L to R: Phillip Sakoua and his sons Tommy Sakoua -10 and Max Sakoua -12 with their Chickens in their Sylvania Back yard. The Government wants to legislate the meaning of "Free Range" eggs. Picture: John Appleyard

THE issue of free range egg labelling could be cracked at a meeting of state and federal ministers this week.

Under a plan hatched by Better Regulation Minister Victor Dominello, eggs would be labelled as having been produced on properties with 1500 birds a hectare, 5000 birds a hectare or 10,000 a hectare.

The setting of national standards would mean fines of up $1.1 million for those who are caught scrambling perceptions with misleading labelling.

It comes after state governments pledged in June to do something about misleading advertising.

At the time consumer lobby group Choice claimed up to 213 million “free range” eggs a year did not meet the CSIRO guidelines of 1500 birds a hectare.

This was despite free range eggs costing twice as much as caged eggs.

Mr Dominello will be attending the consumer affairs ministers’ meeting in Canberra on Thursday.

It will be chaired by Federal Assistant Treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer.

Change the meaning

Mr Dominello wants the definition of “free range” to mean “birds having meaningful and regular access to an outdoor range, (requiring) the prominent disclosure of outdoor stocking density”.

The maximum “outdoor stocking density” would be 10,000 birds a hectare.

But customers would be able to choose eggs with a lower density of chickens at a farm.

At present, labels come as “free range”, “barn” or “caged”.

“I will be advocating for a national information standard for free range eggs that makes it mandatory to include stocking densities on the carton,” Mr Dominello said.

“The NSW government has led the charge on a ­national information standard and I believe we are close to agreeing on a workable solution.

“We’ve seen a massive increase in free range egg consumption in the past five years and promotion from the big supermarkets.

“Markets work effectively when consumers have reliable information with which to make meaningful choices that reflect their preferences.”

NSW Farmers policy director John Dunn welcomed the change.

“This has been a noose around the industry’s neck for 10 years,” he said.

“It needed someone to take over and drive an outcome,” he added.

“We don’t see there’s a massive difference between a range that has got 10,000 chooks and a range that’s got 1500. The test is, do the chooks have enough space.

“The important point for us is drawing a line under what is free range,” Mr Dunn said.

Originally published as Crackdown on ‘free range’ labelling