Animal rights organisation SAFE is urging the Commerce Commission to enforce honest egg labelling after polling shows most Kiwis don’t realise ‘colony-laid’ eggs come from caged hens.

Currently, all New Zealand cage egg brands omit the word ‘cage’ entirely from their packaging, using vague and confusing terms like ‘colony’ or ‘colony laid’ instead.

SAFE says current egg labels breach the Fair Trading Act by concealing the fact that ‘colony-laid’ eggs come from caged hens.

"The New Zealand egg industry knows all too well how Kiwis feel about cruel cage hen farming-that’s exactly why they’ve scrubbed the word ‘cage’ from their packaging," says Head of Campaigns Jessica Chambers.

SAFE’s concerns were founded after polling revealed a shocking 86% of New Zealanders did not understand ‘colony laid’ eggs are from caged hens. Three quarters of Kiwis (76%) agreed this labelling is misleading.

"By omitting the word ‘cage' from cage egg products, the egg industry isn’t just misleading Kiwis-they’re hiding the very real and ongoing suffering of the 1.2 million hens trapped in cages across Aotearoa right now," says Chambers.

Hens farmed in ‘colony’ cages are caged for life, with no access to the outdoors, fresh air, grass or sunlight. Up to 80 hens are crammed into one cage, allowing hens only 750cm2 of space each (around the size of an A4 sheet of paper). All birds have their beaks partially removed to reduce stress induced pecking injuries and are killed at just 18 months of age.

SAFE says hens confined in cages are prevented from expressing many of their most basic natural behaviours, a breach of New Zealand’s Animal Welfare Act 1999.

"These deceptive labels are no accident. If cage egg producers were honest, they'd risk losing sales from ethically-minded consumers. Instead, Kiwis are being misled by confusing labels and packaging adorned with images of sunshine and love hearts-anything but the crucial word ‘cage.’"

SAFE raised their concerns on this matter with the Commerce Commission in 2020, however no action was taken. Since then, hundreds of millions of cage eggs have been sold under misleading labels.

SAFE is asking Kiwis to visit the SAFE website to sign their name in support of their Fix the Label complaint to the Commerce Commission.

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