hi guys

just to keep you updated – i am including here my emails sent moments ago to woolworths and the sa poultry association (who woolworths suggested i contact). this is all so interesting, am loving delving a little deeper into the claims producers/retailers are making…

to the SA Poultry Association:

I am writing to find out more information about free range standards and laws in South Africa as they relate to chickens and egg production.

I would appreciate if you could assist me with the following:
- what laws are in place which govern ‘free range’ in South Africa?
- can any chicken or egg producer put the label ‘free range’ on their products – or do they need to meet certain certification standards in order to do so?
- are there penalties if producers use the term ‘free range’ when they are not?
- what is the SA Poultry Association’s view on ‘free range’?

I write a blog which you can access at http://aspirantlocavore.wordpress.com. My aim is to find out all I can about more ethical food choices and to question producers about claims they make on their food products. I thought perhaps you, as the industry body, could help me to find out more about ‘free range’ chickens and eggs in SA. I want to know when I can trust a product that claims to be ‘free range’.

to Woolworths (in response to their email which you can see in my last post):

Thank you for replying.

However, I am not satisified with the response that you are not allowed to give me the details of your Auditors. I cannot understand why Woolworths would want to do so – I can find the name of your financial auditors on your annual financial statements, so what reason is there for keeping the name of your free range auditors secret? If you can give me a reason which seems legitimate, maybe that will satisfy me, but at the moment this smacks of a lack of transparency. Are you telling me I must just ‘trust’ Woolworths – and believe that any kind of auditing actually occurs? If this were organic certification, I wouldn’t just believe Woolworths if they told me produce had been certified. The produce would have an organic certification number on it and I could actually check with the certification body themselves that the farm meets the organic standards.

Also, you neglected to address my other question from my email which relates to your response around ‘free range’ milk. I take your lack of response to indicate that Woolworths does not wish to comment on the legality of claims made by your largest dairy supplier, Fair Cape, that their milk is free range.