Dear Friends,

Have a look at the preview for a new documentary called 'Food, Inc.' that's due to be released soon.
Click here to follow link.
It is a documentary that challenges the entire food industry and although it is filmed in the USA, it is applicable the world over.  Please also take a look (see below) at documentary filmmaker Wendy Hardie’s appeal to Woolworths to really sell only free range eggs.
Best wishes,
Louise

Have you seen that big sign which hangs proudly in some Woolworths stores –

 “FREE AS A BIRD – We are the first retailer in South Africa to sell only free range eggs – we think our hens enjoy having space to behave like hens should.” 

Did you assume this means that as caring retailers Woolworths no longer sell battery eggs, because they know how cruel this method of farming is? 
 
I did too, which is why I was so disappointed to discover that ALL of their products containing eggs… (every single one of them except for egg sandwiches)….are made with battery eggs!  In other words eggs sold in cartons are free range, but eggs that are less visible such as the ones chopped up in their salads, quiches, pancakes, cooked meals, cakes, biscuits etc, are ALL from caged birds.
 
A few years ago there was such a public outcry about the cruelty suffered by battery hens – kept in overcrowded cages, with their beaks & claws cut off to prevent them from literally pecking each other to death in their incarcerated misery and frustration – that in 2004 Woolworths made the decision to sell ONLY free range eggs, acknowledging Louise van der Merwe and CIWF in their decision.  They’d also discovered that free range eggs were selling better than battery eggs, so their stance made good business sense too.

When I asked a representative of the Woolworths Good Business Journey, why they didn’t then use free range eggs in their salads and products too, they said there had never been a public outcry about this!  I said I thought this might be because people didn’t realise…. 

They also said that there is a shortage of free range eggs, so not enough to cater for the quantities required by their product recipes.  This could once have been an argument for eggs in cartons too, but retailers respond to public demand!  I asked how Woolworths judged public opinion on such things, and they said they judged this by their sales - and sales of products containing battery eggs remain good.

So unlike with eggs in cartons – where consumers could show their support by buying free range eggs instead of battery ones, with products there is no choice, so no economic way of showing how you feel (apart from not buying at all). 

If you would like to join me in telling Woolworths how you feel about this, and asking them to please extend their free range egg policy to ALL eggs in both cartons and products too – you can e-mail  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   and  copy to Wendy Hardie at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it so that we can monitor responses.