After the Bell: Free-range means there’s room to roam? Don’t believe everything you read

When it comes to provenance, it’s safe to say that most people don’t think very much about the source of their foods when they reach the retailer. Our milk comes from a carton, or a plastic bottle; vegetables from fridges and shelves; and meat from the butcher.

We care about its freshness, quality, quantity and price — sourcing and distribution are the retailer’s baby.

What happens along this journey, unfortunately, is often anyone’s guess.

We have reasonable expectations that government departments tasked with keeping a check on farmers and manufacturers will do so, while the people who sell us the goods will keep an eye on their suppliers.

Routine audits and testing are already conducted to ensure food safety, which is how we detect issues in the system (as we saw during Pick n Pay’s proactive recall of the tainted peanut butter, Woolworths’ viennas recall last year, and this week’s hummus recall by Shoprite).

Besides occasional food safety issues that we hope are detected by those in the business, consumers look to food labelling as a vital tool to make educated choices. Other than telling us what’s in our food, labels offer guidance on the details ranging from allergens and sugar content to preparation and storage instructions.

We expect food suppliers to adhere to the laws and provide accurate, non-misleading information. Labels also guide a growing number of people who are invested in field-to-fork buy products that are free-range, or even organic. But we know that slapping a free-range (or organic label) on to produce, meat or other products attracts a premium, which is why we should question those claims, especially when so much rides — especially for the animal — on whether that pack of “free-range” lamb or chicken is ever truly free-range. 

For me, the prospect of feedlot meat possibly entering supplies of free-range meat is both chilling and infuriating, especially since the designation suggests not only good animal welfare, but also exceptional flavour. Which is the very reason I would buy it.

Ethical suppliers of free-range meat — and there are many — are starting to raise concern about what they are seeing at retail level. They say there’s simply too much free-range lamb in the system for it to be truly free-range. It can mean only one thing: If there’s a glut of free-range meat in our retailers, which one would ordinarily expect to be available in limited volumes, feedlot meats — boosted by growth hormones like Zilmax, used in feedlot animals, must be supplementing some supply chains. 

Retailers sell consumers a bucolic dream, that their free-range beef and lamb are only reared on pastures and veld, and that they never spend time in feedlots or on permanent grain-based diets. They assure us that the South African Meat Industry Company (SAMIC) conducts regular audits, on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. But the annual audit frequency raises concerns about potential system manipulation.

The Agricultural Product Standards Amendment Act was signed in April this year, with the proposed draft regulations requiring departmental inspections for all production systems to verify claims of free-range, grass-fed, and organic. 

More eyes on the system can only be a good thing, because it will keep farmers, meat packers and retailers even more on their toes.

Granted, some retailers, including Shoprite, have been hailed for their efforts to uphold free-range standards, working with ethical producers like Oak Valley, Karoo Natural Lamb and others, as well as meat wholesalers like Kyto that have a reputation of valuing traceability and quality.

But there’s growing unease that some retail supply chains might not be so pure, or at the very least, have been compromised. 

Earlier this month, Woolworths told its A-list suppliers that it was committed to transparency and ethical sourcing in its meat supply chain, which is why it was conducting a thorough review of its Angus and free-range auditing procedures in partnership with SAMIC.

It now wants all A-list suppliers to provide SAMIC with complete information about their sourcing farms, which includes farm name, location, owner details, animal numbers and delivery frequency for auditing purposes.

Whatever the outcome of this wide-scale audit, consumers have a right to know because they are paying handsomely for the privilege of buying free-range. 

Woolworths (as do other retailers), says if suppliers are found to be gaming the system, they will be immediately removed from the free-range supplier list and no Woolworths abattoir will be permitted to procure free-range animals from them again.

Contracted free-range meat packers — of which there are less than a handful and who have much to gain— must be held to the highest standards. DM