Free-range egg claims don’t add up

Home on the range … Tony Coote, on his farm near Canberra yesterday, says people buying accredited free-range eggs may not be getting what they pay for. Photo: Andrew Meares

ONE in six free-range eggs is not what it seems.

An analysis of egg industry data has confirmed what most consumers have suspected: it is doubtful enough free-range layer hens in the country exist to produce the number of eggs labelled free-range.

From January 2006 to January 2007 the free-range flock would have had to grow by more than 37 per cent to match the increased sale of free-range eggs in the grocery sector, as recorded by the Australian Egg Corporation in its annual reports