Changing the pecking order
24 February 2009
Free-range eggs continue to grow in popularity, so where is the demand for organic chicken? Amanda Woods reports.
WHICH came first - the chicken or the egg? The answer, as far as the free-range or organic variety is concerned, is clearly the egg. Free-range and organic eggs have become standard fare in many homes, cafes and restaurants. But the free-range and organic chicken's other contribution to our plate - meat - is far less prevalent.
Of the 200 million dozen eggs consumed in Australia each year, 22 per cent are free range or organic while less than 5 per cent of meat consumption is free range or organic.
Some people say they buy the specialist eggs because of their aversion to battery hen practices, while others cite health benefits. Then there are those who say they simply vote with their taste buds. But why don't these factors seem to apply when it comes to chicken meat?
Although chickens bred for meat are not reared in cages, Glenys Oogjes, the executive director of Animals Australia, says sheds house about 17 chickens a square metre and many suffer.
"It's very mischievous to say that they are not in cages," she says.
"About 95 per cent of broilers are raised in large sheds but at such high density that they cover the entire floor . . . All they can do is push other chickens aside so they can walk to food and water, if they're lucky.
"They've bred the chickens to grow at such a rate they have a number of physical and other conditions," Oogjes says. "The main one is they have great problems with their legs, because their very young skeletons have great difficulty holding the weight of their body.
So they spend most of their time sitting but the litter can become acidic and can chemically burn their breasts, causing great pain and suffering."
Dr Andreas Dubs, the executive director of Australian Chicken Meat Federation, challenges these claims, saying it would be economically unviable to breed birds that cannot survive.
"If the birds couldn't stand up, they couldn't feed themselves and so they'd die. It wouldn't make any sense," he says.
Dubs says rearing chickens for meat is very different to egg farming. "It's not like it's cages versus free range as it is for eggs; it's a barn versus a barn with access to an outside area."
Hormones are not used in poultry production in Australia but there are concerns about the use of antibiotics to protect chickens from illnesses.
The federation says eating chicken does not expose consumers to antibiotic residues. But Professor Peter Collignon, an infectious disease expert at the Australian National University's medical school, says numerous scientific studies show the use of antibiotics in agriculture contributes to the ingestion of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Chickens categorised as free range or organic under a certified scheme are not given antibiotics.
A study by the consumer magazine Choice found four food experts couldn't tell the difference between factory-farmed, free-range and organic roast chicken. However, the report claimed birds that grow at a slower rate with a longer lifespan have more flavour. As yet, they have not held a similar taste test for eggs.
Sydney celebrity chef Bill Granger, who is famed for the egg dishes on his menu, says he prefers free-range and organic chicken. "I like to support smaller farmers and help keep them alive. But I do think [their eggs and meat] just taste better."
His restaurant, Bills, is one of the cafes and restaurants in Sydney that state on their menu that they use organic eggs. So what can you expect if you order chicken?
Granger prefers organic but has found customers baulk at the price.
"It's a problem with costing," he says. "At Bills, we've tried having organic, free-range chicken but the customers find the price really difficult. So we try to have at least free range and get as much organic as possible."
It seems consumer choice is driven by the dollar. Many may baulk at the price of free-range meat, yet free-range chicken breasts can cost only 12 per cent more than intensively produced fillets, while free-range eggs can cost 118 per cent more than cage eggs.
As organic feed costs more than conventional feed, and organic broiler chickens live longer than their conventional counterparts, the price increase with organic products is more pronounced, with organic chicken breasts costing 106 per cent more than intensively reared meat and organic eggs 197 per cent more than cage.
British chef Jamie Oliver, who has been campaigning for consumers to buy free-range chickens, is encouraging people to buy whole chickens and use the entire bird. He says buying breasts is the most expensive way to eat chicken, whereas one whole bird can provide a meal for eight.
Granger agrees. "I think we need to appreciate when we get meat that it is a luxury item.
"At home we used to eat chicken all the time; now one small chicken does all five of us and we get a second meal out of it with some chicken fried rice or something . . .
"If you're on a tight budget, eating organic chicken is hard. But if you can do it sometimes, even a little bit is good. Because . . . as people buy more and more, it becomes easier to find and the prices come down."
Egg and meat price differences sourced from Coles supermarkets in the week ending February 21, 2009.
By Amanda Woods, Sydney Morning Herald
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