The head of Freedom Food came under fire from an egg producer at the BFREPA conference for the ethical food label’s threat to suspend producers who took part in the controversial cull of badgers.
Freedom Food, which is run by the RSPCA and which has now been re-branded as RSPCA Assured, issued its threat after the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) gave the go-ahead for controlled badger culling in two pilot areas - West Gloucestershire and West Somerset – as part of a package of measures to try to eradicate bovine TB.
It confirmed its position in a statement to the Ranger, which read, “The RSPCA does not consider culling to be in any way justified on the grounds of protecting farm animals from harm and that badgers will suffer as a result of the cull. Consequently any Freedom Food farm participating in the cull would be in breach of RSPCA welfare standards and their agreement with Freedom Food.” Egg producers also received letters outlining the threat of suspension.
The controversy blew up before the current CEO, Jez Cooper, took up his post, but following a speech to the annual conference of the British Free Range Egg Producers Association in Birmingham recently, he was questioned about the threat by an egg producer from the South West of England. Initially, Jez Cooper questioned whether the threat could possibly have been issued.
“The RSPCA wouldn’t threaten to suspend you,” he said. “I don’t understand how it would happen because it doesn’t work that way.”
“I have a letter in black and white,” said the questioner. “What from the RSPCA?” asked Jez. “Yes.” At this point Jez Cooper said he would be happy to discuss the issue with his questioner afterwards. “Because that’s not how the process works,” he said. “And certainly that is not a course of action that we would take.”
“Well, quite simply, it is,” said the egg producer, who continued to stand his ground. “Other producers in the South West would have had the same, quite definitely and threateningly,” he said. “It was from the RSPCA, threatening to suspend my membership of Freedom Food if I were to take part in the badger cull, which is blackmail and above the law because the badger cull is legal. They are trying to say they are above the law,” said the producer.
Jez Cooper insisted that the system would not be used in that way under his stewardship of the organisation. “I can’t comment on the letter. I would need to see it. I would need to understand it better.
“Let me explain the process. If somebody is in breach of the standards, and our job is to assess against those standards, then, if there is someone who has got a non-compliance, it doesn’t matter what it is, then the process is very clear. We measure against the standards.”
He said that if RSPCA Assured believed there was con-compliance, it would have to approach its certification body to seek authority to take any further course of action. “We do not just suspend; it doesn’t happen like that. The only time that we may take immediate action is if there was a serious welfare breach.” Such a serious breach could be seen as bringing the scheme into disrepute, he said.
“We have to seek authority and then we have to communicate that back through. And that is our decision to suspend, not the RSPCA. Once we have got permission, we make that decision. So I would need to see the letter, I would need to understand it. It’s pre-my time,” he said. “That’s not how I would work it. So I can’t comment on the history of the letter you have got, but I am more than happy to look into it and understand it better.”
When it initially threatened to suspend Freedom Food members over the badger cull in 2013, then BFREPA chairman Roger Gent openly criticised the organisation for doing so. “Freedom Food should not be infiltrated by the political wing of the RSPCA,” he said. “We have a duty to protect the animals in our care, to maintain their health. Freedom Food has a code to provide for the best interests of farm animals and you cannot go changing that on a whim over the issue of badgers.”
The question about badger culling was one of a number of testing issues raised by delegates at the BFREPA conference. Jez Cooper was asked by one member of the audience about housing free range hens during an outbreak of avian influenza. BFREPA members would like to see housing orders extended to a much wider area in the event of an outbreak. Under the current rules, anyone who houses birds outside the designated area could lose their free range status. Jez Cooper said there was a process within RSPCA Assured for putting forward proposals for changes to the standards.
Jez was also asked about beak trimming and the prospect of a ban on the practice. The day after the conference was held, the Government announced that it would not press ahead with a ban on beak trimming, but Jez gave his views about what should happen.
Jez Cooper said at the BFREPA conference, “The view that I have is that, ultimately, a ban is where we ought to go and we would like to go. But the reality is that that is not going to happen in the short term. For now, it’s right to listen and wait for the feedback from the relevant group. We will go forward from there, but it’s not something that’s going to happen imminently. I think it was right to hold off, it was right to wait to get the feedback and it’s right to wait to see what the recommendations are going forward.”
Jez Cooper explained to those at the conference the reasoning behind the re-branding of Freedom Food to RSPCA Assured. He said that in 20 years since the launch of Freedom Food the brand had achieved just over 20 per cent consumer awareness. He said it was felt that the brand would benefit from a direct association wit a well-known animal welfare organisation. Within just three months of the name change, RSPCA Assured had achieved 26 per cent consumer awareness compared with 24 per cent in 20 years for Freedom Food.
