Want to know more?

If animal welfare is an issue for you and you want to know the truth about how the food in the supermarket is produced and where it comes from, then here are some additional links that you might want to check out:

I have already referenced their website a number of times in this blog:

1. Compassion in World Farming

Founded by dairy farmer Peter Roberts in the UK in 1967, they campaign to end cruel factory farming. In 1988 Compassion in World Farming made a Public Information Film called Welcome To The Battery for the cinema advertisements. This was to promote awareness and encourage the Boycot of Battery Farming. They also initiate the The Good Egg Award reward companies for sourcing cage-free eggs.
They have branches in various countries, also Ireland: http://www.ciwf.ie/


2. RSPCA freedom food

Freedom Food is the RSPCA’s farm assurance and food labelling scheme dedicated to improving welfare standards for farm animals reared for food each year in the UK. The Freedom Food label enables shoppers to recognise higher welfare products - products that come from animals reared on farms inspected by the RSPCA. The RSPCA welfare standards are deliberately practical and achievable. They can be implemented on both large- and small-scale farms, and cover indoor and outdoor systems. This helps to provide real welfare improvements for as many farm animals as possible.

The freedom food label is unfortunately not used in Ireland but watch out for it when you shop in the UK. In any case the website has lots of useful tips on animal welfare, so it is worth a visit.


3. Celebrity Chefs Campaigning

Both Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's and Jamie Oliver have teamed up with Compassion in World Farming and the RSPCA to improve the welfare of farm animals.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Chicken Out! Campaign

Lot’s of information on the Chicken Out! campaign that call’s for a clear labelling of products that come from intensive chicken production.
There is also a link where you can online view Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's programme Chickens, Hugh & Tesco Too: http://www.chickenout.tv/chickens-hugh-and-tesco-too.html

In his show “Fowl Dinners”, Jamie Oliver takes a revealing look at chicken farming. Extracts from the show can be viewed on the Channel4 website: http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/jamie-oliver/jamies-fowl-dinners/

More tips from Jamie on how to shop for poultry and eggs on his website: http://www.jamieoliver.com/jamiesfowldinners/


4. Documentary Films

- WE FEED THE WORLD - a film by the Austrian Erwin Wagenhofer. This is a very good documentary film that traces the origins of the food we eat and shows the realties of modern industrial food production.

Extracts from the film can be viewed on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywdFltUp9Js
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d-hTyo1eAg&

- EARTHLINGS - film by Writer/Director Shaun Monson.

This is the most comprehensive documentary on how animals are treated as raw material for industries. It shows humankind's absolute economic dependence on animals raised as pets, food, clothing, entertainment and for scientific research. Using hidden cameras and never-before-seen footage, EARTHLINGS chronicles the day-to-day practices at some of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit.


5. Books

A large number of books have appeared in recent years on ethical shopping. These are just some examples:

- The Good Shopping Guide: Certifying the UK's Most Ethical Companies and Brands by Charlotte Mulvey
- The Rough Guide to Ethical Shopping by Duncan Clark
- Animal Free Shopper by Vegan Society
- Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets by Joanna Blythman
- Not on the Label: What Really Goes into the Food on Your Plate by Felicity
- The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Search for a Perfect Meal in a Fast-food World by Michael Pollan
- Life Stripped Bare: My Year Trying to Live Ethically by Leo Hickman

I would suggest to visit your local library or bookshop to see if you find something inspirational or useful for your lifestyle.

How to Produce your own Eggs: Raspberry Eggs with Chocolate Sauce

Recipe suitable for vegans and vegetarians.

Ingredients for 4 persons:

For the eggs:

150 g Raspberries (fresh or frozen)
250 g Water
2 TS Raspberry Juice (if you don't have raspberry juice, puree a few of the fresh or frozen raspberries)
2 TS Sugar
1 TS of Agar
50 g Dark Chocolate (ca. 70% Cocoa)

Preparation of the eggs:

- Fill raspberries into egg moulds until completly filled. You will need 4 egg moulds.
- Mix water, raspberry juice, sugar and agar to a light pink juice.
- Heat mixture and bring to boil shortly, then remove from stove.
- Fill juice into the moulds with the raspberries.
- Leave to cool for 2 hours in the fridge.
- When the eggs are ready remove the from the moulds and melt the chocolate.
- Sprinkle chocolate sauce over the raspberry eggs and serve:

What the Food Producers Say (Part 2) – Indulge behind bars!

Due to the poor response from food producers to my email inquiry about the eggs used in their products, I decided to call the customer care line of the food producers to finally get the requested information. I soon realized that also I had many different brands (like Betty Crocker pancakes and Haagen-Dazs ice-cream), they all came from the same Food Producer General Mills.


I called the General Mills care line (Tel (ROI): 1800 535 115). After I had been informed that this call might be recorded for training purposes, a lady with a British accent answered the phone very quickly and enquired how she could help me. I stated that that I wanted to know if the eggs used in Betty Crocker pancakes and Haagen-Dazs ice-cream come from free-range eggs or from battery hens. After listening to my question and checking her database, she said she could not find this information in her database and would call me back. I left my mobile number and half and hour later the phone rang and the care line lady informed me that this information was not available at the moment, but she would send me a letter with the requested information, if I told her my address details. I left me address details and that was over a week ago and I am still waiting for this letter.

Another big corporation that has all my address details, but I still don’t have the information about the eggs. If the letter from General Mills every comes, I will publish it on this blog. After weeks of researching, writing emails and calling care lines, I still do not know where the eggs for Betty Crocker’s pancakes and Haagen-Dazs ice cream come from (although I think we can make an educated guess…). Who would have thought that a simple question like “Where do the eggs in the product come from?” is so difficult to answer. What is there to hide? Are battery hens not in line with the image of “caring” food company? It’s time to stop beating around the bush and lay the cards on the table: Once again the appeal for a clear labeling on the packaging:

How to produce your own eggs: Spring eggs

Recipe suitable for vegans and vegetarians.

“Spring eggs” Ingredients for 4 persons when served as a starter:

For the eggs:

250 g Broccoli Juice (preferably you have a juicer and juice a small Broccoli and mix with water, alternatively you can puree a piece of Broccoli and mix with water)

1 TS of Agar

Seasoning:

- Piece of Ginger
- Salt
- Pepper
- Herbs according to season and taste

For the sauce:

- 175 g carrots
- 3 TS olive or sunflower oil
- ½ TS turmeric
- ½ TS coriander seeds
- ½ TS honey
- 200 ml vegetable fond or white wine
- a little bit of chilly
- 1 TS lemon juice

Preparation of the eggs:

- Juice broccoli, add some water till you receive a bright green juice
- Season to taste with salt, pepper and grated ginger
- Dissolve agar into the Broccoli juice mix and bring to boil. Remove from stove.
- Add some herbs to juice.
- Then put mixture into silicon mould that has the from of an egg or use cleaned egg shells. You will need approx. 4 egg shells.
- But broccoli juice mix into the mould.
- Leave to cool for at least 2 hours, so that it can firm.

In the meantime prepare the carrot sauce:

- Chop the carrots
- Roast the spices (turmeric, coriander seeds) in a pan together with the oil.
- Add the chopped carrots and honey, steam everything for approx. 8 min
- Add the fond or white wine and simmer for 30 min till liquid is reduced by half.
- Puree the mixture
- Season to taste with chilly, lemon juice and salt.

After two hours take the aspic out of the mould. Garnish with herbs and carrot sauce and serve on a plate:

What the Food Producers Say

I finally received some replies from the food producers with regard to my enquiry about the eggs used in their products. As expected, when there is no information indicating free-range or organic eggs being used, either on the packing itself or on the website, the eggs come from battery hens.

Dolmio (which is a brand of the Mars food company) assured me that “Mars has always been committed to the well-being of all animals”* but “Mars' overriding concern is to manufacture and sell products that meet the highest standards of quality and safety and to satisfy our consumers' needs”.
I don’t know what they are trying to imply with this statement: That free range eggs are not save to eat? There are plenty of food producers who are using free range eggs in there products already, among them Mars competitor Unilever Europe, another giant food producer (brands include Hellman’s mayonnaise). They seem to have no problems producing foods that meet the highest standards of quality using free range eggs. For a full list of food manufactures using free range eggs in their products, see the Website The Good Egg Award.

Mars continues that they are “currently evaluating the situation on the source of eggs used in the manufacturing of our Food products and during 2009 we will commence using barn eggs. This change will take place some years before the legislative date given of 2012.”

A bit of background information with regard to this statement:

- Below a very good link that explains the difference between caged eggs, barn eggs, free range eggs and organic eggs, in case you start getting confuse:
Know Your Eggs?

- Secondly, the EU has passed a legislation that in 2012, the battery keeping of hens as documented in an earlier blog entry is to be banned and will be replaced by so called “enriched” cages, which give the hens slightly more space, a nest and a perch to sit on in the cage. (http://www.ciwf.ie/campaigns/campaign_egglaying.html )

But even this smallest improvement for the caged hens is under threat as the egg industry is lobbying the politicians to further postpone the date. There is also the possibility that the food producers just get their eggs from caged hens outside the EU. Therefore, there is no way around a clear labelling with regard to the source of the eggs used on the packaging. Here my suggestion for Dolmio Express Pasta:





* Mars also owes the brands of Whiskas and Pedigree. Despite the marketing I can assure you that cats and dogs would not buy this pet food. It is of a very low quality and also contains colorants and lots of flavour enhancer, because otherwise the animals wouldn’t touch this mixture of wastage. Rather spend a little more on quality pet food and save money in the long run, because your pets are healthier and happier.

How to produce your own eggs: Egg “Mexicana”

The ideas for the recipes are based on a cookbook by Ferran Adria, the chef of the restaurant “El Bulli” that also participated in the Documenta 12 in 2007.

Recipe suitable for vegans and vegetarians.

Egg “Mexicana” Ingredients for 4 persons when served as a starter:

125 g Tomato Juice
125 g Vegetable Stock
1 TS of Agar Approx.
24 Kidney beans (from can or dried beans soaked in water for several hours and then boiled in unsalted water till soft)

Seasoning:
- Chilly
- Salt
- Pepper
- Paprika
- Garlic (optional)
- Smoked Jalapenos (optional)

Preparation:
- Mix tomato Juice and vegetable stock
- Season to taste with salt, pepper, chilly, paprika, garlic and
- Dissolve agar into the tomato juice mix and bring to boil. Remove from stove.
- Put kidney beans into silicon mould that has the from of an egg or use cleaned egg shells. You will need approx. 4 egg shells. Use approx. 6 beans per egg.
- Then put tomato juice mix into the mould.
- Leave to cool for at least 2 hours, so that it can firm.
- After two hours take the aspic out of the mould and serve on a plate:

Who’s to blame – The Egg Intervention

Even if we all would change our buying habits and only buy free-range or organic eggs, this would hardly change anything with regard to how many hens are kept in laying batteries. Most of the eggs form the batteries are used in the food industry for noodles, cakes, mayonnaise, a whole range of convenience foods. This is the main business of the egg industry and they sell far more eggs to any of the big food producers per day then to all end consumer in a whole year.
The next time I went shopping, I checked which of the products contained eggs and I tried to find out if those eggs came from free range or battery eggs:

Unfortunately, I was not very lucky: None of the products that contained eggs had any information on the packaging with regard to the source of the eggs.

Back home, I went to the websites of the food producers, hoping to find more information with regard to what type of eggs are used in the products. I found the desired information once, on the Irish Ben&Jerry´s ice cream website:

They use free range eggs in their ice cream. All other food producers make no statements about the eggs used.

As next step to find the information, I wrote to the food producers:

So far I have received no replies, but I keep you posted.

For the time being, I will not buy any of the products where it is unclear which typ of eggs are used.

The Reality of "Egg Production"

At birth the male chicks are sorted form the female chicks. As the male chicks are useless for the egg production and cannot be used for food (because the chickens are special breed for egg production and are not suitable for meat production), they are killed immediately (gassed, suffocated, “shredded” and processed as animal feed or fertilizer).



Their suffering is at least shorter then those of the hens of which 90% end up in laying batteries

This is the space a hen in a laying battery lives on:

Approx. 20 cm x 20 cm of thin wire mesh, inclined so the eggs can role of.
Often the hens legs can’t cope with the stress of standing on this surface all the time. Their legs break.

Their beaks are often truncated, so that are not pecking each other or themselves, because they are extremely stressed. While the chickens bread for meat are often kept in complete darkness, the laying hens are exposed of up to 20 hours of light to stimulate their ovulation.

After 14 month they are “finished” and killed off.

15% don’t live that long and die before in the cages, due to the conditions in which they are kept and illness linked to the over-breeding.

Where the Happy Hens lived

When we used to have chickens at home some visitors asked if we really ate the eggs from those chickens. They wouldn’t have the confidence to do this.

They said they preferred the eggs from the supermarket, because those eggs are checked and stamped.

This is rather twisted thinking, because my grandmother’s hens led a happy live: they had plenty of space to roam, a house for shelter, a rooster and good chicken food like corn and grass. You could really taste the difference in the eggs.

By contrast the reality for most of the hens producing the supermarket eggs is quite different. But for some reason the consumer has totally detached the product they see on the shelf from the reality of food production or they clinch to the advertising images and smooth talk of marketing specialist ofthe food industry, used to gloss over the reality.