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There has been misleading information about the way FREPA does its accreditation. Below are our letters clarifying the comments by others.
The Editor
Weekly Times
By email
Dear Sirs
I would like to correct a factual error in an article in last week’s Weekly Times entitled Scramble on egg claims.
The article claims that Free Range Egg and Poultry Australia (FREPA) bans perches. This is not correct.
FREPA’s Standards explicitly state that perches must comply with the Poultry animal welfare Code.
This is shown on our web-site at www.frepa.com.au or we can be contacted by telephone on 1300 367 306.
Yours sincerely
The Editor
Weekly Times
By email
Dear Sirs
I would like to clarify some points made in your article of 24 September 2008 entitled ‘Shell Shock‘.
It states that FREPA allows “...10 birds or 30kg a square metre in the shed”. As stated on our web-site, FREPA varies the amount of space per bird in egg production in proportion to the number of birds in a shed. For 1000 birds or less it is 10 birds/square metre (about 22-24kg/square metre); for 1001-2500 it is 9; for 2501-3000 it is 8; and for 3001-4000 it is 7 and for over 4000 it is 6 (about 13-14kg/square metre). This space is measured on the ground level of the shed. We do not allow perch space to count as stocking space or for birds to perch so that manure drops on those below.
In Quality Assurance it is important that an auditor can identify that the Standards are complied with. This is why FREPA allows beak trimming done by laser. With a laser, after the chook is around 35 or so weeks old it is difficult to tell if her beak has been cut or not.
The laser process was evaluated at the South Australian Research and Development Institute and is just a laser beam on the beak (for people lasers are used in eyes).
Yours sincerely
Meg Parkinson
President
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