paralyzed by choice at the egg cooler
Author:
Bruce Passmore
Publication:
The Hamilton Spectator
Publication Date:
January 12, 2007
Anyone who shops in a modern grocery store can attest to the fact that the chore of stocking the family pantry is becoming more frustrating. Ironically, it's due to the paradox of choice.
The plethora of products that line the shelves boggles, and sometimes paralyzes, the mind. But do we really have as much choice as we think? In spite of the unlimited number of packages on the shelves, the ability to distinguish between products and obtain what we really want has become more, rather than less, difficult.
Modern labelling is more about marketing and branding than telling consumers what they want or need to know. Too many choices and ambiguous labelling often cause consumers to make purchases based on perception or price rather than reality.
One of the best examples is eggs. Words like "farm-fresh", "vegetarian feed", "omega-3" and caricatures of hens pecking the ground on packaging lead consumers to think that inside is a healthy product from birds who have the opportunity to behave naturally. But nothing could be further from the truth.
About 98 per cent of eggs produced in Canada are from hens kept in crowded, filthy cages, so small they cannot even stretch one wing. They never see the light of day until they are taken for slaughter. They never feel the sun on their backs or peck in the earth. Every natural behaviour hard-wired into their very beings is denied. Their lives, in short, are hell.
But the eggs they produce, day after day, week after miserable week, are scrubbed, packaged and sold with absolutely no indication of the suffering the birds have endured.
Consumers are increasingly savvy about the factory farming of animals for food. They want to make not only a healthy, economical choice for their families, but also an ethical one. They're even willing to pay more.
Unfortunately for the hens, however, what they're paying more for is often not what they think they're getting.
This is one problem that could be easily solved. If all eggs from caged hens were labelled as such, the consumer could easily make an educated choice. In fact, Loblaw has already been approached by animal and environmental groups asking the retailer to use in-store signage to identify eggs from caged hens. They have refused.
Animal groups are also rallying to approach the government for clear labelling. But the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the federal government department responsible for labelling food, traditionally moves at a glacial pace, making this unlikely in the foreseeable future.
This is not consistent with global trends. The European Union (EU) and various other countries have already implemented stricter labelling restrictions with, or without, corporate support. In the EU, for example, eggs from hens reared in cages must be clearly labelled as "eggs from caged hens". These changes were a result of consumer pressure and clear scientific evidence of the animals' suffering.
Why is Canada dragging its feet? The country's agricultural lobby groups are a powerful bunch. Rather than addressing consumer concerns about animal welfare, the government has spent millions of tax dollars on promoting the status quo.
Since less than 2 percent of Canadians have any connection to farming, and factory farms have no windows, the public has little opportunity to observe the cruelty of modern factory farming.
If most Canadians knew that farm animals are excluded from the minimal animal cruelty legislation that does exist and that there are only voluntary, self-imposed guidelines for the on-farm treatment of animals, they would be appalled.
However, there is a glimmer of hope. In December, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency outlined the national "Canada Organic" label which includes clear production standards and tighter regulations.
This will replace the mishmash of regional standards that exist now. Organic egg-laying hens, for example, will be guaranteed to be free from cages and allocated the most space per bird of any commercially available system.
Until the label becomes common- place, consumers concerned about method of production, at least in the case of eggs, will have to hunt for one of the obscure "certified organic" logos that currently guarantee eggs come from happier hens.
The ultimate answer, however, must be to clearly label those eggs that come from the most ubiquitous and cruel food production system in use today.
