Which came first?
Animal welfare activists launch an aggressive campaign against caged eggs, but farmers and stores say their demands are unrealistic. Susan Edmunds reports.
When Auckland mother-of-one Idang Rusden goes to the supermarket, she’s focused on price. A bargain hunter, she stocks up on whatever brand of eggs is on special. This week, that would probably have been a $4.50 pack of 12 from Farmer Brown.
Paying a few more dollars for free-range eggs doesn’t really cross her mind. Although she says all animals should be treated humanely, she can’t justify spending more if she doesn’t have to.
If there was no alternative, she would change to free-range eggs. ‘‘Maybe, but then, I’m not on the minimum wage. I don’t have multiple children to feed.’’
Countdown says 70 per cent of Kiwi shoppers are like Rusden. Only 30 per cent of the eggs it sells are from free-range or barn chickens.
The supermarket chain should know: it’s been talking about eggs a lot lately.
Throughout last year, animal rights group Safe ran a campaign calling for Countdown to phase out the sale of eggs from caged hens. Protests were held outside supermarkets and shoppers were encouraged to send a form letter to the company.
Now, Safe is taking its protest to the next level with a television and cinema ad campaign featuring actress Aidee Walker, of Step Dave fame.
In the stark attack ad, she is confronted with emaciated battery-caged chickens as she selects eggs from a Countdown shelf. At the end, the camera zooms in on a Countdown logo.
The ad is set for TV broadcast from early April but this week, Countdown got in first, saying it would remove all cage-laid eggs from its own-brand range by 2022.
It’s not as much as Safe wanted, and Countdown’s move is partly because the supermarket has to do it: By 2022, the current style of battery cages will be outlawed. Only ‘‘colony-laid’’ eggs (see sidebar, top right) will be allowed. Countdown’s move means it won’t stock those either.
It is also not as much as the company’s Australian parent did across the Ditch. There, it has committed to phasing out all cage-laid eggs, not just own-brand, by 2025.
Hans Kriek, the former executive director of Safe, has been campaigning against battery hen cages since 1986.
On his watch, Safe started talking to Countdown about 21⁄2 years ago. There were meetings with key people. Kriek says he expected it would be easy: they would see sense and make the change.
But the response was luke-warm and any progress stagnated.
Just over a year ago, Safe decided to step it up to an action campaign. ‘‘We decided to use consumer pressure on Countdown to get them to change,’’ Kriek says. ‘‘They weren’t happy. They felt it was unfair that we were just targeting Countdown and not any other supermarkets, because they sell caged eggs as well.
‘‘We explained to them that the reality is that if we were to campaign on all supermarkets in New Zealand they will all just look at each other and wait for the others to do something first.’’
He said the Countdown decision was good, but nothing to get excited about. ‘‘It falls well short of what we have been asking them to do for some time.’’
Finally, Countdown got wind of a new campaign against its caged eggs – the Safe attack ads revealed today in the Sunday Star-Times. The supermarket chain says it did not know the specifics, but it was spooked into bringing forward its scheduled own-brand eggs announcement.
It’s just not feasible to drop all cage-laid eggs, Countdown says. To reach just the goal it set this week, it will need about 40,000 more free-range and barn-laid eggs, every week. It is giving suppliers five years’ notice to enable them to work towards adequate supply.
Countdown also argues it’s unfair to compare New Zealand to Australia. Aussie egg farmers are allowed 10,000 ‘‘free-range’’ chickens per hectare of land. In New Zealand, we allow only 2500.
James Walker, the supermarket chain’s general manager of corporate affairs, says the decision this week was not about beating Safe to the punch.
‘‘It’s about recognising that there is increasing customer demand for free-range and barn eggs in New Zealand and we want to support and encourage farmers to invest more in these eggs over time and in a measured way.’’
At the moment most New Zealanders aren’t backing freerange with their wallets.
When asked, we say we support them. A Horizon poll conducted for Safe showed three-quarters of Countdown’s customers supported it phasing out caged eggs.
But we still buy them, and it’s probably due to the cost.
Offering an affordable product and progressing towards cage-free eggs, within Countdown’s brands, must be done in a measured and practical way, Walker says.
‘‘Kiwis demand affordable eggs. ‘‘We know that from how they shop. We need to ensure we don’t do anything that would result in egg shortages, or more expensive eggs.’’
Consumer NZ says eggs are now as cheap as they have ever been. The price has fallen steeply over the past 50 years, because of the mass production of battery cages.
In 1959, the advocacy group says, a dozen eggs cost the equivalent of just over $10. Now, they are about $3.50.
Denise Conroy, a senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Auckland, says there is a disconnect between shoppers’ intentions and their actions.
They state their ideals publicly, ‘‘but you eat eggs in the privacy of your own home so who would know?’’
Countdown would not say whether its decision would affect the cost of its home-brand eggs.
Kriek agrees most Kiwis choose the cheaper, caged option, but he says that doesn’t mean they always will.
‘‘When you see commodity prices go up, whether it’s the price of dairy or bread, people take it on the chin. But the moment you want to do something for animal welfare, then suddenly it becomes a big issue. The reality is, when you change, some people are a bit upset but most people will not be.’’
Egg farmer Hamish Sutherland, general manager of Zeagold Foods, which supplies Countdown, says Countdown’s move has sent a clear message to suppliers that they may need to change their housing mix.
Supermarkets take about half the eggs produced in this country.
He says that if Countdown were to sell only free-range eggs across its store, as Safe wants, they would need about 500,000 dozen a week. Current volumes are ‘‘nowhere near’’ that and it would be a struggle to get there within five years.
He harks back to the cost argument, too.
‘‘For lower-income families, eggs are an absolute staple. If you buy a $7 or $8 tray and some bread, that’s a whole lot of food for a big household.’’
Actor Walker, a long-time vegetarian, recognises that freerange eggs will blow some household budgets, but says it’s time to take a stand against complacency.
The Safe ad will shock some viewers, she acknowledges, but she sees no alternative.
‘‘It has to be shocking to get through. I hate that – it sucks that you have to show shocking images to make an impact, but sometimes it works.’’
We decided to use consumer pressure on Countdown to get them to change. Hans Kriek