NSW: Egg corporation says Shonky Awards belitte all egg farmers
25 Nov 2008 9:15 PM
SYDNEY, Nov 25 AAP - The industry representing Australian egg producers has hit back at this year's Shonky Awards, maintaining all Australian egg farmers have been belittled.
The awards, now in their third year, highlight dodgy and deceitful goods and services, as determined by consumer group Choice.
The Australian Egg Corporation Limited (AECL) received the Egg on Your Face Shonky for its definition of free-range eggs.
"Well over half the hens described as free-range are housed in huge sheds, may never go outside, and their eggs may come off conveyor belts," spokesman Christopher Zinn posted on the Choice website earlier this year.
Responding to the unflattering award, AECL's managing director James Kellaway said all egg farmers had been represented unfairly.
"Choice has belittled all Australian egg farmers by trivialising the uncertainty of the definition of free range farming as shonky in what is a very complex issue," he said in a statement.
"While AECL has taken action to define consumer expectations in free range eggs, we are unaware of any research done by Choice in this area, to define their assertion of `true free range'."
