• Choice says many free range claims are "little more than cynical marketing slogans used to contrive a price premium".
    Choice says many free range claims are "little more than cynical marketing slogans used to contrive a price premium".
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Consumers have forked out for a billboard that calls for Assistant Treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer to “stop the free range egg rip-off”.

Consumer advocacy organisation unveiled the billboard, located in O’Dwyer’s the Victorian electorate, which was funded by 866 individuals who donated over $26,000.

which calls on her to end the free-range egg rip-off and deliver a standard that meets consumers’ expectations.

“The Assistant Treasurer has an opportunity to crack the free-range farce once and for all by creating a meaningful egg standard,” says Choice spokesperson Tom Godfrey.

Minister O’Dwyer along with several other federal, state and territory ministers are expected to make a decision on a free-range egg standard early this year.

“Consumers want free-range claims to mean something in Australia. At the moment, many claims are little more than cynical marketing slogans used to contrive a price premium,” says Godfrey. 

"The support for the billboard further highlights how passionate consumers are about this issue and their firm views on what free-range should mean. They want a standard to reflect these expectations.

 “With free-range eggs costing almost twice the price of caged, an accurate standard is needed to give consumers confidence when paying a price premium. A standard should not be used to shield producers who might be misleading consumers.”

Choice is calling for: 

At a minimum, a national information standard should require that eggs labelled ‘free-range’ are produced in farms where:

- The majority of chickens actually go outside regularly

- Birds have room to move comfortably when outdoors

- Birds have room to move comfortably inside the barn

- Farmers undertake animal welfare practices 

Any products that don’t meet these minimum requirements should be labelled in a way that accurately reflects how they were produced, for example ‘access to range’. 

Adopting this recommendation would result in four categories: Free-range; Access to range; Barn: and Cage. 

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