Free-range poultry farmer to tour Europe on labelling campaign
Tasmin French will dress as a chicken called ‘Rosa’ as part of the campaign by Labelling Matters – a project partnership between Compassion in World Farming, RSPCA, the Soil Association, and World Animal Protection – and will tour 21 EU member states, finishing at the European Parliament in Brussels on 8 September 2014.
The tour has been set at 39 days long as that is the average lifespan of an intensively farmed chicken, said Labelling Matters.
French said: "It’s important that consumers can accurately and easily identify the farm system used to rear their chickenmeat. The labelling term ‘free range’ accurately reflects the life of our free-range chickens."
The Labelling Matters project is calling on the European Commission to deliver honest, mandatory labelling for European consumers, as part of its review of poultry meat labelling this summer.
French added: "Method-of-production labelling already exists for shell eggs. It means consumers can tell which farm system was used to produce the eggs they buy and has been an important factor in driving the dramatic increase in the number of cage-free egg-laying hens across Europe.
"The European Commission has recognised that mandatory labelling has also given producers the opportunity to differentiate on price and earn a better, fairer living. I want to see this type of labelling extended to chickenmeat – because clear, comparable, point-of-sale information is very important if higher-welfare markets are to grow."
