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Another egg producer on Name and Shame list for misleading ‘free range’ claims

An egg farm in Western Sydney is the latest producer to be added to the NSW Food Authority’s Name and Shame register for misleading ‘free range’ claims.

Paul Galea and Son Egg Farm, run by Glensung Pty Ltd has been found to be making false claims about its eggs, labelling ‘barn eggs’ as ‘free range.’

The company has been fined $4620 for the misleading labelling and added to the Name and Shame register after receiving three warnings from the NSW Food Authority.

It found that the chickens producing the eggs at the Paul Galea and Son premises did not actually have any outdoor access or space to roam and therefore did not meet the industry-set guidelines for what constitutes ‘free range’ or ‘roam free.’

Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson said the fine handed down to the egg producer was necessary to ensure national standards for free range labelling were being met.

Farmers and suppliers who produce actual free range eggs want a crackdown on the definitions of ‘free range,’ after leading national suppliers were found to falsely make the claim.

NSW Greens MP John Kaye has also called for better regulation of the egg industry, saying the model code is not ‘legally binding,’ leading consumers continue to be ‘misled.’

In August the poultry industry copped criticism for its attempts to change the definition of ‘free range,’ to allow more than 140 000 birds per hectare, with activist group GetUp! who calling on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to uphold the current standards. 

Last year the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced it would be taking a number of chicken suppliers to court, claiming they wrongly advertised chickens as free range.

It was also revealed in July this year that Australia’s largest duck producer was being sued for misleading advertising which claimed the birds were raised in ‘open range’ farms.

Activists filmed the birds at Pepe’s Ducks, showing not only that they were crammed into metal crates, but also that some of them were covered in faeces and had their wings stuck in the metal grates, despite labelling claiming they were “grown nature’s way.”

Earlier this year it was found that Steggles chickens were still being advertised as “free to roam” despite the consumer watchdog labelling such claims by the company as misleading and deceptive last year.

Do you think the 'free range' labelling needs tougher rules? 

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