Freedom, but at what price?
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is planning to grow its Freedom Food scheme further in 2006. The strategy, which aims to improve animal welfare, received a big advertising push in October thanks to its Support Farm Animal Week and specially designed labelling displaying the blue and white Freedom Food logo, which appeared on poultry products being sold in Sainsbury and Somerfield.
In place since 1994, the charity only accredits farmers and manufacturers who meet the RSPCA’s high welfare standards, developed by the charity's Farm Animal Department, and takes into account advice from welfare academics, vets and the farming industry. The core message is that consumers should be offered a greater welfare choice and an affordable middle-ground between expensive organic and cheaper mass-farmed value ranges.
Although it isn’t the most efficient way of growing chicken, says Mark Gorton of Traditional Norfolk Poultry, this is offset by lower mortality rates and better quality birds. “Thinking about my chickens’ welfare and [seeing them] as animals, not commodities, also means a greater sense of job satisfaction,” he adds.
But is the RSPCA being realistic about achievability? With farmers only making three pence per chicken, surely there is pressure to increase the intensity of farming to meet profit margins. Freedom Food is also let down by the lack of independent consumer input into the process of developing the welfare standards; something the RSPCA itself is looking into after advice from the Food Standards Agency. And how will the organic market be impacted? The campaign has the potential to be huge. Consumers keen to appease their conscience, but not spend a lot extra on organic food, will have the satisfaction of shopping ethically. Retailers and manufacturers’ interest will no doubt depend on the budget spent on advertising and levels of consumer awareness.
Joanne Finney is food writer at Good Housekeeping magazinehttp://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk
