Free Range Eggs: Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be
Friday 6 November 2015 @ 8.59 a.m. | Trade & Commerce
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the ACCC) has released further information about the labelling of free range eggs in a bid to give producers a better understanding of their rights and obligations under the Australian Consumer Law (the ACL) [contained in Sch 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)].
However, egg producers want the Federal Government to speed up the introduction of national guidelines. Farmers have been lobbying for greater certainty from the government for many years, calling for a national standard on what free range actually means so that businesses big and small don’t get penalised for inadvertently doing the wrong thing.
No definition of “free range”
There is currently no national definition of free range eggs in Australia, however state and territory ministers agreed in mid-2014 on the need for urgent reform. In the meantime, numerous businesses have been hit with massive fines.
Fines for breaches of the ACL
In September 2015, Queensland-based Darling Downs Fresh Eggs (ACCC v RL Adams Pty Ltd [2015] FCA 1016 (11 September 2015) was penalised with a $250,000 fine by the Federal Court after the ACCC alleged the business’s laying hens had been confined to barns.
The court also ordered the company to introduce a compliance program and publish corrective notices.
As stated in a previous TimeBase article, the Federal Court found that Pirovic Enterprises Pty Ltd (ACCC v Pirovic Enterprises Pty Ltd (No 2) [2014] FCA 1028) engaged in misleading conduct and had misled consumers by claiming that their egg product was free range when it then admitted that this was not the case.
Reaction from egg producers
Geoff Sondergeld, the chief executive of R L Adams (the company behind Darling Downs Fresh Eggs), said in a statement his business was fined because it was trying to keep its chickens indoors during an avian influenza outbreak.
Madelaine Scott, a producer of free range and organic eggs in rural Victoria and founder of Madelaine’s Eggs, said that egg producers just want certainty from the government:
“There needs to be a lot more guidelines and even rules around how many birds by how many hectares. Sometimes you do have to lock your chickens up for a period of time if something [like an influenza] is happening. To change your packaging for a few weeks is so expensive. Guidelines coming in sooner rather than later would be very helpful.”
The ACCC Guidelines
The ACCC’s most recent guidelines say egg producers are making a claim that their eggs are free range if they use the words “free range” on their packaging or show pictures of chickens roaming freely – for example, on a grassy field. The ACCC says it considers “free range” to mean most hens move about freely on an open range on most days.
Rod Sims (Chairman of the ACCC) said in a statement, the labelling of free range eggs requires a “common sense” approach:
“If it is not normal for most of the hens to leave the barn and to move about freely on an open range on most days, making a free range claim is likely to be misleading. The ACCC acknowledges that laying hens may spend periods indoors and we do not expect to always see hens on the range or expect every hen to be outside every day. Indeed, the ACCC does not expect farmers to use a precise approach of tracking hens or head counts. On the other hand, we reject claims that it is acceptable to tell consumers that eggs are from free range hens when the outdoor range is not regularly used by the hens – whether this is the result of farming practices or for any other reason.”
TimeBase is an independent, privately owned Australian legal publisher specialising in the online delivery of accurate, comprehensive and innovative legislation research tools including LawOne and unique Point-in-Time Products.
Sources:
ACCC enforcement guidance—free range hen egg claims
Eggs act standards: Free range egg producers call for urgent reform and clear national guidelines - Article from smartcompany.com.au
ACCC v Pirovic Enterprises Pty Ltd (No 2) [2014] FCA 1028
