Defining a 'freedom to roam'

A typical chicken raised for meat in a barn lives a short life, about 42 days, and it is not a pleasant life of "roaming free".

Through selective breeding, chickens grown for meat now take less than 40 days to reach 1.6kg; 50 years ago it took almost 100 days. The predictable consequences of selective breeding for massively increased growth rates include joint and bone fractures. This unnatural growth rate causes significant pressure on the heart and immature skeleton. Their anatomy has been distorted; the large breast muscles put crippling strain on the developing legs.

It is not uncommon for these birds to be unable to walk or easily stand up. To move they must waddle. This results in hockburn – marks where the ammonia from the waste of other chickens burns through the skin of the leg. You wont see this in the ads.

Once they near the end of their short life and start to reach their target weight, the birds will occupy the entire floor space. As the birds become increasingly overcrowded, the floor which is now no longer visible becomes increasingly filthier. Chickens are held in an "all-in/ all out" system, meaning that for the whole of the 5 - 7 weeks that they are in the barn the droppings are allowed to accumulate on the floor. The air may become polluted with ammonia, dust, bacteria and fungal spores which cause health problems for both people and chickens. Again, don't expect to see this in any of the ads.

The claim that these chickens are not caged is a disingenuous one. If it was cheaper for them to be caged they would be. Battery hens are caged so that their eggs can be more efficiently collected, if it was cheaper for them to be out of the cages, they would be. The treatment of these animals follows the money. The Codes of Practice enable it.

Objectively, the allegation the ACCC makes is a serious one; these companies have brought animals into the world, confined them, killed them, sold their carcasses for profit and then, allegedly, actively sought to deceive the public about the quality of life they afforded to these creatures during their short lives. The question of misrepresenting what one has done to another sentient living creature for the sake of profit is a serious ethical issue. It is one that goes to character. This is of course not the test that will be applied by the Court. The Court will be looking at whether consumers were misinformed.

One of the outcomes the ACCC is seeking is for corrective notices to be published. Consumers, and of course chickens, would be better served if they could go further and demand transparency at all times regarding what is done to animals on factory farms. Transparency in the form of clear legislation that applies to animals on the basis of their ability to experience pain not the particular industry to which their bodies are put to use and transparency in the form of clear and uniform food product labelling of animal welfare outcomes.