| Free Range Egg & Poultry Australia
Ltd. is a group of dedicated Free Range producers who
are setting high standards of production and quality.
Our members are committed to providing to consumers
products that reflect those standards.
Consumers can recognise eggs and poultry from our growers
by the Accreditation Label on the packaging.
To be accredited it is necessary for our growers to
have an understanding of land care, environmental, biosecurity
and animal welfare issues, and animal diseases, and
to comply with RangeCare.
RangeCare is a HACCP based system
which minimizes the chance of something going wrong.
It does this by identifying where the critical control
points are, ensuring these are checked regularly, setting
up systems to deal with the control points and keeping
appropriate records.
RangeCare is our approach to a quality product. We are
not a marketing organisation for eggs and poultry, but
a certification organisation. In our system, the management of pasture, the trees
for the birds to nest and dust bathe, the quality and
amount of food, the prevention of disease, the protection
of the birds from predators are all very important.
This, of course, means that our members put in a lot
of work. Members do it because they are concerned to
give the birds a good life. It is satisfying to see the
chooks strutting around, having dust baths and scratching
for bugs - and to produce a product which customers tell us tastes fantastic!
History 
When the Victorian Egg industry deregulated in 1993,
a number if existing free range producers saw the need
to form an association similar to those already in existence
in New South Wales and Queensland.
This was to ensure that standards for genuine free
range production would be set and the consumer would
have a way of recognising a genuine product. The first
meeting of the Free Range Egg and Poultry Association
of Victoria Incorporated took place in October 1993
and by the following year the first farms were being
inspected for accreditation.
In November 2002 FREPA became a Company Limited by
Guarantee and is now Free Range Egg and Poultry Australia
Limited.
We are working hard to:
- represent our growers;
- have our logo instantly recognised in the market
place as the sign of a quality product;
- inform all tiers of government, the media and other
organizations about Free Range production;
- enable farmers to learn about the
various aspects of Free Range farming and marketing
so that they are well-equipped to meet future challenges.
Our farmers are interested in producing a quality product.
The eggs and meat are produced under conditions which
are friendly to the bird and to the environment. Our
members abide by conditions which show an interest in:
animal welfare, animal health, environmental sustainability,
land care and public health.
Our logo is distinctive and eye catching. It is used
on the packaging of accredited eggs and chicken meat.
This label is the consumer's assurance of a genuine
free range product.
The future will bring many challenges to all farmers.
To help our growers to remain competitive we have a
list of Standards which we have developed into a Code
of Practice. We are working to assist farmers to keep up-to-date with technical information.
Free Range does not mean that we are unscientific or
reject technical advances. We simply insist that these
changes take into account animal welfare and environmental
considerations.
The future is very exciting and FREPA is aiming to
be a force to be reckoned with!
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