In November, Animals Aotearoa commissioned a poll by Horizon Research based on a theory we’d had for a while – that people were being conned by the labels on chicken meat.
Horizon Research asked 1500 Kiwis what chicken meat they bought, and why they bought it.
Almost half of the respondents said they bought ‘Cage Free’ chicken meat because they wanted their meat to come from farms with better standards. Over half also said they bought chicken meat labelled ‘No Added Hormones’, because they wanted their chicken meat to be healthier.
The catch? As Newsroom put it: “no chickens farmed for meat in New Zealand are kept in cages at all and there have never been hormones added.”
Our Executive Director Marianne Macdonald was interviewed about the findings saying:
“We know that people do care about animal welfare, that’s getting backed up by poll results, but people really are being deceived by the labels on chicken meat.
“They think they’re buying better than the bare minimum, but that’s not the case and it makes it very difficult for people who are wanting to buy in line with their values to actually do that.”
Newsroom also interviewed a Wellington-based student, Kelsey, who spoke about her experience buying Cage Free chicken meat, thinking that it was better.
“I thought that if I bought those it was the right thing to do.”
“You feel like someone’s pulled the wool over your eyes.”
Because of such strong findings, Animals Aotearoa is now planning to send a complaint to the Commerce Commission about these misleading labels duping shoppers.
The poll findings were undeniable with even the head of the poultry industry agreeing that labels like Cage Free and No Added Hormones were unnecessary.
It’s time for a shake-up of labelling standards and an end to humanewashing.
