Food Labelling

Consumers should be able to trust that when they purchase a product implying high animal welfare, they are getting what they pay for.

When you think about the labels used to suggest better animal welfare it's mind boggling – grain-fed, grass-fed, corn-fed, free-range, bred free-range, cage-free, hormone-free, organic – the list goes on.

But what does it all mean?

Well at the moment in Australia, it doesn't necessarily mean much because terms aren't legally defined, used consistently or enforced by legislation.

The RSPCA believes in truth-in-labelling.

  • The public should have full and accurate information about the production method used for the animal products they buy.
  • Labelling of food products should be clear and unambiguous.
  • There should be legally defined and nationally consistent definitions of the terms that describe a particular method of production (e.g. free-range, cage-free etc.).

This would ensure that when you buy food with a label that implies good animal welfare you can be assured that certain minimum standards have been met.

Then, with increased consumer confidence and demand for such products, more and more producers will switch to production methods that provide higher standards of welfare for the animals in their care.

How you can help

Become a Political Animal

Food labelling review

A review into food labelling law and policy has been completed, with recommendations being presented to our State and Federal representatives.

It has been recommended that the relevant livestock industries consider the benefit of establishing agreed standards under the auspices of Standards Australia or Standards New Zealand for terms related to animal husbandry (e.g., ‘free range’, ‘barn laid’ and ‘caged’ in the case of poultry).

This was something that was highlighted in the RSPCA's submission to the Review Panel and we will be following the relevant livestock industries.

6,000 submissions were received in the initial call for feedback so there was a lot of interest groups vying for room on what is essentially a very small space, whether it be a tray of meat, a carton of eggs or a bottle of milk.

But when you consider that the top priorities for grocery buyers are price, nutrition, origin and animal welfare, it's reasonable to expect that food labelling reflects what people want to know.

The report can be found at the Review of Food Labelling Law and Policy website.

Laws governing food labelling

The absence of nationally agreed definitions or standards for product labelling (the only exception being eggs) allows the often arbitrary use of terms to continue without being considered false representation.

The only animal product that is regularly labelled according to its production system is carton eggs. There are three recognised definitions: cage, barn and free range, as defined in the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals: Domestic Poultry. While labelling of cartons is voluntary in some states, it is mandatory in the ACT and Tasmania and it is also a requirement of the Australian Egg Corporation's quality assurance program.

RSPCA Approved Farming

Approved Farming is the RSPCA’s farm assurance and food labelling scheme, dedicated to improving the welfare of farm animals.

The RSPCA has developed standards for pigs, layer hens and meat chickens where animals are farmed to the RSPCA’s high animal welfare standards – standards much higher than those required by law or recommended by codes of practice.

The RSPCA Paw of Approval provides consumers with a clear and unambiguous label to help them easily identify higher welfare food. The Paw of Approval is the RSPCA’s guarantee that the products stamped with the Paw come from animals that were farmed humanely.