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British
television presenter, naturalist, and wildlife photographer Chris Packham says that animal products
should come with warning labels similar to those on cigarettes.
He also noted
that the narrative consumers are being sold about the welfare of livestock is inaccurate.
‘Factual’ packaging
He said: “There
are photographs on cigarette packets of diseased lungs in an attempt to be
factual but as shocking as possible, why wouldn’t we do it for food?
“If you
pick up a pack of eggs from some ghastly farm and it had a photograph of birds
in cramped cages, the impact on sales would be instant.”
The public
figure’s commentary came in support of an article by The Sunday Times‘ Ben
Webster which called for an end to dishonest marketing in animal agriculture.
Deceiving
images
Webster
wrote: “Supermarkets are selling meat with misleading labels that falsely
suggest that the animals were reared outdoors when they actually spent their
lives inside giant sheds on factory farms.”
He went on
to describe how packaging for products such as meat, dairy, and eggs shows
animals living in idyllic, pastoral conditions when the reality is quite the
opposite.
The vast
majority of animals raised for consumption spend most of their lives indoors –
with many never going outside at all.
Misleading labels
Webster
recommends, among other things, that shoppers look for products with the labels ‘Free Range’ and ‘RSPCA assured’ – however, even these can be deceiving.
The
Daily Mail published an expose in 2016, which featured photos and video of a
farm which was both free range and RSPCA-certified, revealing that the animals
were kept in ‘shocking’ conditions.
The photos
and video pictured 16,000 hens kept in ‘narrow shed housing’, ill, balding, and surrounded by their own feces.
