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1.
AUSTRALIAN EGG SCANDAL
A proposal by the Victoria, Australia
state government to require cage space for laying
hens be increased to at least 550 sq cm (85 sq in,
up 15.5 sq in from the current recommended guideline)
would raise the price of eggs 11 cents (U.S.) per
dozen to $3.34.
According to the president of the Victorian Farmers
Federation (VFF) egg group, the government estimates
the cost of a dozen eggs would rise from $4.03 to
about $5.43 if all birds were barn housed, and from
$4.83 to about $8.28 if they had to be free-range.
Meanwhile, the Australian government is planning
to nationally investigate claims that eggs laid by
caged and “barn” hens have been labeled
and sold as free-range. Data suggests that the number
of free-range hens in the country could only produce
about 80% of the eggs that are labeled as such. (Currently,
15% of eggs marketed to consumers are labeled as having
come from free-ranging hens.) "There is enough
circumstantial evidence to worry everybody, including
the RSPCA, because we have an accreditation scheme,"
said Dr. Hugh Wirth, president of the Royal Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, "Our
good name is on the carton."
The VFF has responded by announcing
that farmers producing under the HenCare label will
be audited to ensure they meet free-range, animal
welfare and biosecurity standards. Less than 20% of
Australian egg producers hold a license that guarantees
quality to the consumer through the Egg Corp Assured
Auditing System, which was set up by the industry
in November 2004. This includes Pace Farm, the country’s
largest single supplier of eggs: http://tinyurl.com/oqeev
For years, free-range egg producers
have alleged that barn and cage eggs produced by big
operators have been marketed in free-range cartons.
In Britain, there is a system for determining the
origins of an egg by examining it under ultraviolet
light for cage markings. However, many barn and free-range
eggs are laid in wire-framed nesting boxes, making
it difficult to discern the type of production system.
There is no legal definition of “free range”
in Australia. (See also: http://tinyurl.com/pc23j)
Various categories of Australian eggs and their
associated prices are noted in The Age article listed
below and in a Sydney Morning Herald article entitled
“Most Egg Labels ‘Mean Nothing,’”
available on-line at: http://tinyurl.com/jod8t
More Space for Hens: Higher Cost for
Eggs
World Poultry, July 28, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/kvp7q
Battery Eggs Passed off as Free Range
World Poultry, July 31, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/f42h7
Fear Over Egg Fakes
The Age, Jason Dowling, July 30, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/hus8a
2.
RSPCA’S SALMON AD CHALLENGED
In the U.K., the Advertising Standards
Authority (ASA) has launched an investigation into
an ad produced by the Royal Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). It claims that a typical
salmon pen in the RSPCA’s Freedom Food branding
program “contains the volume of an Olympic swimming
pool.” A spokesperson for the Salmon Farm Protest
Group, which filed the initiating complaint with the
ASA, said: “What concerns me is that it is misleading
– it uses the image of a swimming pool to fix
in people’s minds that the fish have loads of
room to swim about in. In reality they are caged,
when in nature they are used to swimming thousands
of miles in their lifetime…In human terms, if
the pool was ‘stocked’ with swimmers at
a similar density and of average weight, there would
be 313 people in the pool at the same time. That could
be in breach of health and safety regulations, and,
unlike farmed salmon, humans don’t eat three
meals a day and defecate in the water they are swimming
in.”
FREEDOM SALMON AD CRITICISED
Sunday Herald, Jenifer Johnston, July 30, 2006
http://www.sundayherald.com/57000
3.
PROPOSED STANDARD FOR U.S. “GRASS-FED”
BEEF
There is no government definition in
the U.S. for free-range beef. After a failed attempt
in 2002, the U.S. Department Agriculture in May proposed
a standard for grass-fed beef (which is not necessarily
the same as free range). Under the standard, beef
with this label must come from cattle who have eaten
at least 99% grass from the time of weaning until
they go to the slaughterhouse. According to a Washington
Post article: "’Eighty percent of calves
are born in the spring and weaned in September.’
After that, they graze on grass or mesquite during
their roughly 20-to-30-month-long lives. If the proposed
USDA standard is finalized, ‘grass-fed’
steers will keep grazing until they go to the slaughterhouse.
The others, including many certified organic cattle,
will likely spend their last couple of months eating
corn, barley or other grain in a feedlot to add the
final 250 to 400 pounds before slaughter, when they
weigh about 1,200 pounds.”
A public comment period on the “grass-fed”
standard is open until August 10; comments may be
emailed to MarketingClaim@usda.gov.
WHAT'S THE BEEF?
The Washington Post, Sally Squires, August 1, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/mgjum
4.
HEAT BRINGS DEATHS, BETTER PRICES
The recent heat wave more than tripled
the usual number of deaths of California’s Inland
dairy cows. (See item #3 of last
week’s issue.) Additionally, some 700,000
chickens and 160,000 turkeys in the state’s
Central Valley were killed by the heat. Western United
Dairymen has asked state and federal officials to
declare the region a disaster zone, which could result
in financial compensation. Industry officials estimate
that dairies may have lost more than $1 billion due
to animal mortalities and reduced milk output of surviving
cows. (California dairy farmers had an estimated $5.4
billion in gross income in 2004.) However, the weather
may have been “a blessing in disguise for dairy
farmers” with “unprofitable” milk
prices increasing as a result of it. Sybrand Vander
Dussen, president of the Milk Producers Council, said
farmers are to blame for the low prices because they
expanded their herds when prices were escalating in
2004 and early 2005.
DAIRY INDUSTRY CLAIMS $1B LOSS AS COWS
DIE, PRODUCTION PLUMMETS
The Modesto Bee, John Holland, July 29, 2006
http://www.modbee.com/ag/story/12517923p-13232304c.html
HEAT HELPS DAIRY FARMERS
The Press-Enterprise, Leslie Berkman, July 31, 2006
http://www.pe.com/business/local/stories/PE_Biz_D_milk01.114b24f.html
5.
CUT POWER KILLS TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CHICKENS
Between 35,000 and 40,000 chickens were
killed by excessive heat when power, including a generator,
was turned off and ventilation ceased for an estimated
hour to an hour-and-a-half while firefighters battled
a blaze at Rose Acre Farms in Indiana on August 1st.
The facility houses more than 1.6 million chickens.
“We had to do it for the safety of the firefighters,”
said Rose Acre president Marcus Rust, “Human
life is more important than an animal’s life,
I don’t care what the animal rights people say.”
HIGH TEMPS FRY 35,000 CHICKENS
Post-Tribune with The Associated Press, Tom Wyatt,
Aug. 3, 2006
http://www.post-trib.com/cgi-bin/pto-story/news/z1/08-03-06_z1_news_01.html
6.
CLARIFICATION & CORRECTION
Regarding item #1 in last week’s
issue of the digest, “AVMA Rejects Welfare Resolutions,”
the resolution (#4) to place animal welfare interests
over economic ones, proposed by Farm Sanctuary at
this year’s American Veterinary Medical Association
(AVMA) annual meeting, was not rejected or “disapproved”
as was reported in the AVMA Annual Convention News:
http://www.avma.org/convention/news/monday02.asp
Instead, the AVMA House of Delegates, which votes
on the resolutions, referred it to the AVMA Animal
Welfare Committee (AWC) and a counter resolution (#8)
was instead approved (see same link). While the AWC
can recommend revisions to resolutions and actions
on them, the HOD can ignore the Committee’s
advice. For example, although the AWC has always recommended
support of the foie gras resolution, the HOD has yet
to approve it.
The correct link for the foie gras feature
article in the Miami New Times, mentioned in item
#1 of last week’s issue of the digest, is: http://tinyurl.com/o39re
Thanks to Patty Mark for some of the information used
in this issue of the news digest.
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