What do the standards mean?

Animal Liberation has very high animal welfare standards.

Our accredited producers have to meet the following criteria:

The producer cannot have any involvement or interest in battery egg farms.  
Hens must have unrestricted access to weather proof shelter at all times.  
Hens can access the free range area during daylight.  
Hens are provided with a minimum of 7 hours of darkness to rest. 
Hens are provided with sufficient nesting boxes, a raised roosting area and shade protection.  
De-beaking (also called beak trimming) is not allowed.  
Antibiotics, hormones or additives to enhance the yolk colour are forbidden.  
Toe amputation and other mutilations are not allowed. 
Hens must not be subjected to forced moulting.

We think that all of these criteria are critical to ensuring that hens can live a healthy and happy lifestyle, at the same time as giving you the reassurance that you're not supporting battery farming in any way.

And we think that's one of the most important things of all, because this rescued battery hen enjoying sunlight for the first time in her life is not what a normal hen looks like. Please don't condone this by purchasing eggs of any kind from producers who think that it's okay to treat animals like this.

Other free range egg standards

Remember that there is no uniform mandatory labelling scheme for eggs in Australia, which means that there is no clear, legally enforceable definition for “free range eggs”. Producers can engage in cruel practices such as de-beaking and still call their eggs “free range”.

Non government bodies such as the RSPCA and FREPA set their own standards for animal welfare. Some of these standards are better than others, while some producers just call their eggs “free range” without making it clear what they mean by this term. 

So what do all the other labels mean?

The first and most important step is to read the label carefully. Ignore terms like “fresh”, "vegetarian fed", “environmentally friendly”, “omega 3” or “especially for kids”. These are just cynical terms coined by marketing executives to make you feel good about the eggs, despite the fact that most of those eggs will still be cage eggs and/or produced according to less stringent animal welfare standards.

If the label doesn't tell you whether the eggs are cage eggs, barn laid eggs or free range eggs, you can probably assume that the eggs are prison eggs produced under appalling conditions.

If the label says “free range eggs”, you should check if a particular standard was used. A label which just says “free range eggs” is meaningless.

You may come across these names on the labels of egg cartons:

Egg Corp Assured. This is a scheme created by the Australian Egg Corporation Limited (AECL). The AECL represents the interests of egg producers, most of whom have a stake in the prison egg industry.

The Egg Corp Assured scheme permits cruel practices such as de-beaking of chicks, even for free range producers. The AECL has minimal animal welfare standards because it is a producer’s body and not an animal welfare group. Do you really think you can trust a body formed by the industry to represent the interests of the industry?

Organic. There are several organic certification schemes in operation in Australia. Organic producers usually have to comply with high animal welfare standards, but you need to check the actual standard applied to determine if the standards are high enough. Two common standards are the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA) and Australian Certified Organic, both of which have standards that are similar to Animal Liberation.

However, there are two significant differences. Animal Liberation does not permit the producers to have any involvement in the prison egg industry, and it does not charge a fee for membership in the FREPAS scheme. This means there is no chance of egg substitution taking place (there have been many claims that battery eggs have been re-labelled as free range eggs within Australia - read this article if you're interested), and no chance that your money will go towards supporting the battery egg industry.

Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). The RSPCA has a national egg accreditation program for both barn laid and free range eggs. The RSPCA still allows cruel practices such as de-beaking and toe amputation. It also supports barn systems which do not allow the hens to have any access to the outdoors. Animal Liberation opposes these systems because they deprive hens of their most basic behavioral need - to go out in the sun and breathe fresh air. Despite the RSPCA’s opposition to the prison egg industry, it allows producers to engage in battery egg production.

For example, the RSPCA accredits Pace Farm’s Liberty Eggs brand as free range. However, Pace is also a major producer of prison eggs!

HACCP accreditation.  The HACCP accreditation relates to food safety, and does not deal with animal welfare standards. This label tells you nothing about the manner in which the eggs were produced.

Confused by all the labels and standards?

The only way to be sure that you're getting what you pay for is to look for the accredited by Animal Liberation logo or the Katham Springs Biodynamic range. We’ve done the homework so that you can be sure you’re buying genuine free range eggs from happy and healthy hens.

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