Accredited Free Range Pork
At Fernleigh Free-Range, we are proud of the accreditations we hold. These signify the values we believe to be important in relation to the living conditions and welfare of our animals. Fernleigh Free-Range animals (pigs and sheep) have been certified organic since 1996 and the business became Australia’s very first accredited Free-Range and Humane Choice piggery in 2007.
We feel strongly that farm animals should be managed in a production system that allows them to freely exhibit all of their natural behaviours. This includes being:
- free to graze pasture
- free to experience sunshine, wind and rain
- permitted free access to clean fresh water and good feed
- free to express instinctive behaviours
- free from pain, discomfort and disease
- free from fear and distress
- protected from predators
- able to nurture their young
- free from hormones, growth promotants and antibiotics
We also believe strongly in the need to conserve farm animal genetic diversity and so we choose to breed rare and endangered breeds such as Wessex Saddleback pigs and Shropshire sheep. Both of these breeds are endangered breeds as listed by the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia.
The Free Range Pork Farmers Standard is audited by an independent, third-party, auditor and carries a Certification Trademark. When you purchase pork displaying the FRPFA CERT TM, you can be assured that you are buying genuine free range pork from an animal that has ranged freely for all of its life.
The Free Range Pork Farmers Association offers consumers and its members a complete Quality Assurance and Certification Program to provide a guarantee of compliance to a minimum defined national free-range standard which also includes welfare considerations such as no farrowing crates, no sow stalls, no nose-ringing, no teeth clipping and no tail cutting.
What is Bred Free Range Pork?
There is no agreed or defined standard in Australia for the term "bred free range", therefore consumers have no guarantees of how much time the pig was actually free to roam outside. Whilst the pig may have been conceived and born outside, the sow's piglets which go on to be sold as meat are generally not raised free range. The piglets are generally permitted to suckle on their mothers for approximately 3 weeks, after which they are removed and raised in either eco shelters or penned in sheds. In practice, the term bred-free range is a loose descriptor that does not contravene truth in labelling laws. Bred-Free-Range therefore continues to be a widely misunderstood term.
At Fernleigh Free-Range, we believe strongly in the need for a national standard where the term "bred-free range" is used to describe pork products. This is the only way to provide consumers with a clear assurance of what they are actually buying.
What can consumers do?
The first step is in understanding that there is a difference and a choice.
- Seek out pork products that are accredited by the Free-Range Pork Farmers Association to support these farmers.
- When you see the term Free-Range pork in butcher shops or on restaurant menus, ask for verification of the product’s free-range accreditation.
- If you identify a "bred-free-range" product being sold in a butcher shop or identified incorrectly on a menu as "free-range" notify the butcher or restaurant of the difference and request them to include the word "bred" so as not to misrepresent the product or make false claims.
- If the butcher or restaurant refuses to comply, write to ACCC and advise them that you object to the misleading representation of the product.
In most cases, I find that butchers and chef’s genuinely do not understand the difference between "bred-free range" and genuine free-range meat, so please be sensitive to the situation. It is a slow process trying to raise people’s understanding and change people’s buying habits.
Be sensitive, be understanding, but insist on correct representation of the product.