Coles' standard encourages 'Mickey Mouse' egg farms

Who would have thought that New South Wales cage egg industry heavyweight, Bede Burke from Tamworth, would join the fight against high density 'free range' production.

He is on record as saying that the Coles' drive for more free range eggs 'is an animal welfare disaster in the making.'

Mr Burke told the Tamworth City Times that profitability on free range farms was being driven down and they would become intensive open-air factories. He said it was already happening as Coles demanded more eggs from suppliers.

“It looks all nice and populist for the consumer, but in reality it is encouraging cowboy operations. Coles demand for free range eggs is encouraging Mickey Mouse operations run with too many birds in bad facilities.”

We couldn't agree more with Mr Burke. That is exactly what Coles and the Australian Egg Corporation have done.

“As a result, egg quality, freshness and food safety standards are being and will be compromised,” he added.

Good on Mr Burke for saying it like it is.

Bede Burke is Chair of the NSW Farmers Association Egg Group

Coles awards for big corporate egg producers

Here's an article from the Bendigo Advertiser.

Bears Lagoon (near Bendigo) chicken farm Novo Farm Pride has been announced as one of three overall winners of the Coles Brand Supplier of the Year.

It won the award with two other egg producers, Queensland’s Sunny Queen and New South Wales’ Pace Farm, because of its moves to sell cage-free eggs.

Novo Farm Pride opened another three state-of-the-art sheds in October last year, doubling the amount of birds at the operation to 180,000.

The company has worked with Coles to define the free-range standard for eggs.

"Free-range eggs have been growing double digits every year for the past five to 10 years, so through discussions with Coles we worked together to expand the farms capacity," national sales and marketing manager Ian Savenake said.

"We have been able to hold sessions and work with Coles to define the free-range standard and meet consumer demand for our welfare-friendly eggs.

"The award is recognition for the whole team from the farmers to people on the grading floor, to admin, to sales." Coles merchandise director John Durkan said the producers had shown leadership in the egg industry by making the move to produce cage-free eggs.
If these eggs were labelled as cage free there would be no issue with consumers or the free range sector of the egg industry. But they are labelled as free range which does not meet consumer expectations or the standards of legimate free range ergg farmers.

Coles' standard unlikely to get through

The new Coles' free range standard of 10,000 hens per hectare may follow the same fate as the AECL's pathetic attempt to launch its 20,000 per hectare standard.  This is from today's The Age:

Supermarket Coles’ new standard for freerange eggs looks set to run foul of the national consumer watchdog with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission declaring that eggs produced at intensive farms do not deserve the label "free range’’.

While not commenting directly on Coles whose new free-range standard is 10,000 hens per hectare, almost a seven-fold reduction in space from the voluntary guidelines ACCC commissioner Sarah Court said the watchdog believed 10,000 hens per hectare was not consistent with consumers’ understanding of free range.

Ms Court said the commission was very concerned "the egg industry was trying to redefine free range to increase their own profitability’’ without regard to consumers’ views. The ACCC is concerned about "the redefinition of what is meant by free range by industry to suit itself, and the fact that the redefinition has the very real potential of misleading consumers,’’ she said.

The egg industry is spending millions of dollars renovating caged-hen facilities and building new state-of-the-art intensive freerange systems to meet Coles’ new standard.

Industry sources expect Woolworths and Aldi will follow Coles’ standard if it is accepted by the community and regulators such as the ACCC leading to a redefinition of free range in Australia.

Coles says its standard which allows free-range farmers to run sheds of 30,000 hens is the only way to deliver affordable eggs to consumers. The supermarket chain says it is drawing a line in the sand after the industry admitted it had been running freerange hens at densities of 50,000.

In response to the ACCC’s comments, Coles spokesman Jim Cooper said: Our stocking density is far better than most of Australia’s free-range egg production, which typically comes from farms running at double or even triple the stocking density that Coles allows.’’

Fairfax Media revealed on Monday that Animals Australia and the RSPCA, previously supportive of Coles’ efforts to improve its egg range had questioned whether eggs from intensive free-range systems could be called free range.

Monash economics professor and former ACCC member Stephen King said without a legally enforceable free-range code, Coles had done nothing wrong. But the ambiguity over free range was a government failure’’.

We certainly agree that the current fiasco is a government failure which demonstrates that 'truth in labelling' legislation must be a high priority. We also hope that the ACCC will launch some prosecutions against egg producers who have been scamming their customers for years.

The end game for Coles is easy. Simply call their high density system 'cage free' as they state in their advertising. Don't try to con consumers that this is 'free range'.

The Coles 'free range' standard under scrutiny

The Age and other Fairfax paper ran a couple of articles today about the new Coles 'free range' standard and here's a video clip on the Fairfax site.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/coles-sets-its-own-squeezier-standard-20130303-2fefw.html

Tell us what you think!

An ombudsman for supermarkets?

Major supermarkets in Australia may come under pressure if the Labor Goverrnment loses power at this year's national election. The National Party is believed to be about to introduce a policy for a specialist regulator to oversee the industry.

A party room meeting on February 1 is expected to endorse the establishment of a regulator to try to curb the powers of the grocery duopoly, Coles and Woolworths. It will be similar to the establishment of Britain's first supermarket regulator which has power to fine the 10 biggest supermarkets if they have been found to have unfairly treated their suppliers. They are required to comply with a new code of conduct.

Understandably, both Coles and Woolworths don't like the prospect, preferring self-regulation. The current Labor Government agrees with them and has ruled out any legislative change.

Coles 'free range' standard

Well the Coles standard for its version of free range eggs is now up and running - have a look at this Coles facebook page.  It allows an outdoor stocking density of 10,000 hens per hectare but there has been no science produced to demonstrate that such a high density has any animal welfare benefits or is a sustainable method of production.
The hens on those production facilities will almost certainly all be beak trimmed to control aggression generated by over-crowding. The nutrient build up on the land around the production sheds will be huge. Each hen excretes half a cubic metre of manure a year - so 10,000 hens per hectare equals 5000 cubic metres of manure.
Unless those hens are locked in their sheds (and of course they won't be as they are called 'free range'!!!!) the contamination of the land has the potential to generate serious health issues - for the chooks as well as consumers.  And that's before we look at land sustainability.
It's all those reasons which were taken into account when the Model Code was developed which established an absolute maximum outdoor stocking density of 1500 hens per hectare.

Egg Corp spin - both fact and fiction

There are some interesting discussion points arising from comments by James Kellaway, Managing Director of the Australian Egg Corporation. Have a look at the attached link and see what you think. It is a blend of facts interwoven with assertions which the Egg Corp board likes to perpetuate.

It would be great to have a public debate with him.

I have no argument with James' comment about the supermarket duopoly in Australia. Clearly, the 'free range' standard planned by Coles is just as absurd as the Egg Corp's Egg Standards Australia proposal.

I also accept his comments about farm management practices having more impact on animal welfare than the production system. I have said many times that I have seen some very poorly managed 'free range' farms and some well run cage farms.

But the rest of his comments just repeat industry spin which has been rejected by many in the industry as well as by consumers. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E32Oe9nMtTQ

New Coles 'free range' standard about to be launched

Supermarket giant Coles, is about to launch its new 'free range' egg standard which allows its 'free range' egg suppliers to run their hens at a stocking density of 10,000 hens per hectare, when the current maximum under the Model Code is accepted as 1500 per hectare.

Coles has been conducting on-farm inspections to see if its supplier farms meet their new standards (hard to imagine that anyone will fail!)

The new standard is expected to be launched later this month following the withdrawl of the Australian Egg Corporation's ill-fated Egg Standards Australia propposal which sought to introduce a 20,000 stocking density. It will be interesting to see how the new Coles standard is accepted by consumers (and the ACCC) and any response from the other supermarket giant Woolworths.

Milking the cash cow

We agree totally with comments by Paul Kerin from the Melbourne Business School on the reaction of some suppliers (especially the factory egg farmers and the Australian Egg Corporation) to the supermarket price war.
His comments can be seen here:
http://www.theage.com.au/business/milking-the-cash-cow-20110404-1cym0.html

Aust Egg Corp is a bigger threat to farmers than the supermarkets

Free range farmers throughout Australia have lodged a submission with the Senate Inquiry into supermarket discounting. We reckon that the big players who are complaining about Coles' decision to cut their margins  on home brand eggs are only whingeing because of their own greed.

Here's part of the submission from FREPAA Inc.

The Free Range Egg and Poultry Association of Australia Inc., is a national body directly representing free range egg farmers in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

Our members are required to meet all State and Federal legislative requirements and the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – Domestic Poultry provides the basis for minimum animal welfare compliance.

Each State affiliate maintains its own standards and auditing procedures.

Our members are concerned that current complaints by the Australian Egg Corporation Ltd. over the actions of Coles Supermarket in cutting the price of its home brand 'free range' eggs have been designed to divert attention from AECL's own actions.

It is disingenuous for the egg corporation to claim that price cutting by Coles will damage the industry and reduce consumer choice.

The free range egg industry is under far more serious threat from AECL's plans to introduce new standards to allow intensively farmed eggs to be labelled as 'free range'.

A new set of standards has been developed which ignores the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – Domestic Poultry and all international standards. It seeks to allow an increase in farm stocking densities from1500 birds per hectare to 20,000 hens per hectare and to approve the automatic de-beaking or beak trimming of hens.

If this proposed standard is approved, it will open the door for intensive poultry farms to mislead consumers by labelling their eggs as 'free range'. They are keen to do this as it will enable them to charge a premium without incurring significantly higher costs.

This threat is far more serious for the industry throughout Australia than any decision by a supermarket to reduce the price of a home brand product.

There is no compulsion on AECL members or other egg producers to supply eggs for the generic lines marketed by Coles, Woolworths or any retailer. It is clearly an option for egg producers to follow the lead set by Fosters and refuse to supply their product if they are unhappy with the price for which their goods are being sold.

Discerning egg buyers are already suspicious of eggs sold in supermarkets and they are aware that it is extremely unlikely that any eggs sold for $4.00 a dozen could really be what consumers understand as 'free range'.

The proposal by the Australian Egg Corporation Ltd to adopt a new standard has the potential to damage the credibility of egg farmers and is likely to destroy consumer confidence in an industry which has already undergone major problems with egg substitution and deliberate mislabelling.

Meat producers and Australian Egg Corporation strange bedfellows

It's hard for egg producers to understand why the Australian Egg Corporation has squealed so much about the decision by Coles to cut the price of its home brand 'free range' eggs.


Surely Coles has a right to determine its pricing structures? And it's entirely up to suppliers if they want to sell anything to Coles.

Now the AECL, using the Australian Egg Industry Association as a vehicle, has formed a coalition with Australian Dairy Farmers and the Cattle Council of Australia, to submit an application to the Australian Farmers’ Fighting Fund administered by the National Farmers’ Federation, to undertake joint action against Coles Supermarkets for what they say is 'their immoral and unethical treatment and lack of regard for Australian agriculture'.

What a load of cobblers!

The meat guys are upset at the Coles decision to only sell beef free of hormone growth promotants – seen by many as a sensible and very welcome move. Soon after Coles made that announcement, the meat industry went into damage control, claiming that hormone growth promotants used in the beef industry were always safe and did not have any impact on human health.

Meat and Livestock Australia quickly produced information on HGPs claiming that people would have to eat 77kg of HGP-treated beef to consume the same amount of hormones that can be found in one egg!

If the meat industry is kicking the egg industry, what does AECL think it's doing joining forces with them to attack Coles for making a business decision which makes sense for consumers?

Pressure is building on AECL

With Coles' announcement about dumping cage eggs from its Home Brand range, and stocking only 'free range' in its Home Brand category, it must by now be dawning on the Australian Egg Corporation that they are not properly representing egg producers.
They've been playing games with the supermarkets giants - but they lost sight of the fact that they are supposed to represent the interests of the whole egg industry. And that's all of us. Cage, Barn and Free Range producers.
The stupid decision to try to change the standards for 'free range' production demonstrates how out of touch AECL staff are. They haven't only annoyed free range farmers - even the cage boys acknowledge that the draft is bull____ !
Anyway, the Australian Egg Corporation is making itself a laughing stock around the world - have a look at this UK website:
http://www.meattradenewsdaily.co.uk/news/281010/australia___free_range_poultry_.aspx

AECL squeals at Coles

The Australian Corporation has its knickers in a knot after Coles announced its decision to phase out  its home brand cage eggs and reduce the price of its home brand 'free range' eggs. Don't know why they are pretending to be upset because this was always planned once AECL tried to water down 'free range' standards.
Here's the press release AECL sent out:
Egg industry supports consumer choice

Coles Supermarkets have announced that they will lower the price of their free-range eggs to encourage consumers to buy eggs that are more “ethically produced”. In addition to this, Coles plans to remove Coles brand of cage produced eggs by 2013, thereby removing the most cost effective egg category available to Australian households in their stores. Coles have entered into this decision without consultation with industry representatives or their own suppliers of eggs, leaving egg farmers disappointed and concerned for the future of their businesses.
“Australian egg farmers are passionate about producing accessible, sustainable and affordable food for Australian families and have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to ensure the welfare, health and safety of egg laying hens, across all recognized egg production systems” declared AECL’s Managing Director James Kellaway.
Coles Merchandise Director, John Durkan stated, “This is part of our ongoing campaign to offer all customers quality fresh food, ethically produced and at affordable prices.” Yet Coles pick and choose what is “ethical” according to their own agenda, rather than relying on fact and scientific reality. Eggs from cage systems offer welfare, food safety and environmental advantages that cannot be found in alternative systems, and by restricting the variety available to consumers, Coles strips shoppers of the freedom to make their own ethical choices at the supermarket checkout.
With nearly 65% of eggs sold at retail, coming from cage systems in Australia (and around 85% worldwide), Coles are dictating to their customers what products they can and cannot purchase. With a growing population expected to reach 36 million by 2050, and 12% of Australian children currently living in poverty, now is not the time to take away one of the most affordable, versatile and nutrient dense foods available.
Australian egg farmers are committed to farming for the future nutrition of all Australians, by offering the freedom for consumers to choose what variety of egg production suits their needs. “Farmers face countless challenges to produce the food we eat, with drought, flood, pests and competition from imported goods, it is disappointing that one of the major retailers in Australia chooses to create further impediments to egg farming families, thereby challenging the viability and sustainability of local food production” added Mr. Kellaway.

Beating up on Coles for listening to its customers doesn't strike me as a very good idea and I can't imagine what James Kellaway is thinking. He's obviously getting some very poor advice particularly as he has spent the past six months trying to push through an intensive 'free range' stocking density standard which will be essential if Coles is to meet its stated objectives.

It seems that AECL agrees with Con Tamvakis and doesn't care what consumers want.