The Consumer and the Egg:

Negotiating Eco-Labels

Michele L. W. KnausLeadership for Ecology, Culture and Learning

Masters of Education, PSU, 6/14/08Need a Job!

25 or younger 26-40 41-60 61 or older High School College Post-Grad Professional

Yearly Household Income

AgeEducation

Mostly 26-40 years old

90% welleducated

Wide range of Incomes

vote with my food dollar

food system issues

environmental issues

ethical treatment of animals

local economy

food cost

food safety concerns

0 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00

Percentage who agree with statement

88%

95%

98%

91%

96%

79%

87%

Consumer Identificationwith Issues

Politics

Politics

Earth Friendly

Animal Lovers

$$ & Community

$$ & Personal Budget

Don’t want to die

Thought about where you get your eggs

Looked up information about eggs online

Visited your egg producer’s website

Visted your egg farm

Noticed if grocery store had information

0 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00

95%

56%

25%

21%

24%

Have consumers done their research?

Who Certifies the Ecolabels?

no idea got it wrong

Consumers thought they knew who certified cage free and free range eggs...

but they were wrong.

63%

16%

Only 21%actually

got it right

Thought they were

right,got it wrong.

Had no idea.At least they knew they didn’t know...

Why care about eggs?

Buying Local

✴ Reduces Food Miles

✴ Supports Local Community & Farmers

Why care about eggs?

Environmental Issues

✴ Factory Farms pollute land, water, and air quality

✴ Effects felt by laborers and local community

Ethics of Eating

Chickens get 67 square inches of cage

space for their lifetime

Ecolabel: Cage Free

• No small cages

• Chickens live their lives in warehouses

• No monitoring by any agencies or 3rd parties

• Use of term at whim of marketing department

Ecolabel: Free Range• No small cages

• Chickens live their lives in warehouses

• No monitoring by any agencies or 3rd parties

• Use of term at whim of marketing department

•Amount of access to outdoors is not regulated or standard

Certified Organic• All the benefits of

cage free and free range eggs, plus chickens are fed (expensive) organic, vegetarian feed

• Third party audited

Certified Humane Raised and Handled

• High Standards for chickens’ welfare: many regulations regarding natural behavior and stocking density

• Third party audited

• No Molting by Starvation

What the Terms MeanEthical Treatment

Beak Cutting - searing off of the tip of the beak to prevent chicken attacks among crowded flock

60% of survey participants thought no label allowed this, but the industry truth is that they ALL allow this

Molting by Starvation - starvation for 2 weeks of laying hens to induce another few weeks of laying before chicken is terminated

63% of survey participants thought NO label permitted this, but in truth, the only one that doesn’t is Certified Humane Raised and Handled.

Vegetarian Fed: makes sure that the laying hens aren’t fed some really nasty stuff

Make a note: certified organic eggs already guarantees vegetarian, antibiotic-free feed, you don’t have to look for this label on your egg carton if you buy organic

No Hormonesit is unlawful to feed laying hens hormones,

so ALL eggs are hormone-free

Natural

100% Pure

Ridiculous Labels

WTF?

Farmers’ Markets, Farm StandsCSAs

Chicken Co-ops (Zenger Farm)Buyers’ Clubs (Abundant Life Farm, Afton Field Farm)

Raise your own at home!

Best Buy: Pastured Eggs

Vote with your Food Dollar For the Food System YOU Want

Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From?