Could augmented reality help us be better food shoppers?

As Katinka has pointed out some free range eggs are produced under conditions with high stocking levels. I would like to know what I was buying.

This is not easy to obtain Wavechange but I will persevere as the old Indian Chief once said when ordered to conform by the then President of the USA. locations -IE- a Welsh village has intensive cow farming -1000 cows but names are not forthcoming.

Katrinka refers only to Australia, presumably.

I would like animal husbandry regulations to be established in the UK that are acceptably good, that producers are monitored against them and products labelled accordingly, including those imported. I have no expertise to assess whether a stocking rate or other criteria is good so can only, if I choose, compare it with an established standard.

It seems from what I found that British Lion eggs that are free range should come from compliant producers. Is there sound evidence to the contrary?

Duncan – I’m not sure where we can find information about stocking levels in the UK. I have a friend who is involved with Red Tractor certification and he might know. This page about the growth of intensive farming in the UK shows the rapid increase in intensive poultry farming in recent years: https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2017-07-17/megafarms-uk-intensive-farming-meat

Malcolm – Production of free range eggs in the UK now represents about half of those sold and from looking at what is on sale in supermarkets: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/704779/eggs-statsnotice-3may18b.pdf The growth in intensive production (see my reply to Duncan, above) suggests that there is likely to be a focus on meeting the current UK requirement for Lion branding, which is hardly impressive in my view.

Last time I looked Wavechange it was -43 % free range / approx 50 % intensive and the rest barn/ etc. I will keep checking on this issue.

My figure came from Defra – see Figure 2. I forgot to put in a link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/704779/eggs-statsnotice-3may18b.pdf

I expect that the percentage of free range eggs sold (rather than used for catering, ready meals, etc) is higher because it has been a good selling point. Unfortunately standards are minimum standards and if we had access to information about how our food was produced at least some of us would be selective about what we bought.

One of the links provided by Katinka explains that effectively the standards have been reduced in Australia, but at least the stocking density appear to be accessible to the public.

Most standards are “minimum” meaning criteria that you must equal or exceed.

I don’t know how many people shopping for free range eggs would have a clue about what stocking density to accept. Many probably won’t know what a hectare is (2.471 acres, 10000m² – and I do not mean this to sound disparaging).

A standard that is accepted is what most concerned people will want to see met (in my view, anyway). So if the British Lion standard for free range eggs is a reasonable standard then the simple way is to buy eggs marked accordingly. Hopefully the standard will be policed. One of the major problems with standards fraud is if we do not have means to check against them – we need a proper Trading Standards to deal with that, and we haven’t. Back to reputable retailers.

If people are sufficiently concerned about animal welfare then buying free range eggs will be the choice over barn reared.

There is no need for the public to understand what a hectare is, though it is easy to find out. Most people are aware of intensive farming and the photos in the introduction provide a simple visual indication that no-one could fail to understand. Rather than waiting for Trading Standards to deal with problems, I think it is better to set standards based on our understanding of animal welfare and carry out independent assessment to endure that the law is being complied with.

These are recommendations – a code of practice. I favour legislation. Several days ago I met a former butcher who whose more recent experience is environmental health and accreditation schemes in the meat industry. He is appalled by what goes on nowadays and the public knows nothing about.

On another matter he reminded me that meat can be imported and legally branded as UK produced. He gave me the examples of Romania and Yorkshire. My friend who works in policing under the Red Tractor scheme confirmed this and since then I have met someone who actually worked in a plant where imported eggs were sold as UK produce.

The problem with legislation is how it gets watered down by vested interests, and the farming community has huge influence. It would currently have to be done by the EC as we are part of Europe. Another problem is how it is properly policed – the problem with all legislation. Maybe in an ideal world where only people with knowledge and integrity were responsible for it.

Many eggs are imported and I don’t know how you properly police that, least of all with liquid egg.

I presume the British Lion code is a sensible one and if it is properly observed and monitored should yield a decent standard of welfare. We need to be encouraged to only buy such eggs.

If major retailers publicise their policy on the production of eggs they sell then I’ll stick with one of those (unless I find otherwise). They have the resources to ensure that where they purchase from will comply with their own standards.

duncan, nothing worse than a very liquid spready egg. If they were not out of date (old eggs, I believe, do this) and it was not a one off, I’d buy your eggs elsewhere. May cost a bit more – ours cost £1.33 for 10 – but I think they are still good value.

I’d be more concerned at present with dealing with the battery production of eggs and poultry meat.

This seems to be what has happened in Australia, Malcolm: https://www.choice.com.au/food-and-drink/meat-fish-and-eggs/eggs/articles/egg-standard-260417 Presumably the industry has applied pressure on the government to allow lowering of the minimum standard or whatever you would prefer to call it.

Could the same happen in the UK? I hope not, but perhaps we should push for information about stocking density for the stocking densities used for eggs sold by the large supermarkets. I wonder if Which? could provide us with any information.

I realise that we are probably being expected to discuss the virtues of augmented reality to help engage with the public. We had a society event yesterday and visitors had the opportunity to experience virtual reality at its simplest, using headsets including a mobile phone. I suggested using swivel chairs next time to encourage viewers to turn round and look at what’s going on behind them. It’s worth experiencing what innovations in technology have achieved.

I’m not sure what augmented reality is in the context of free range eggs. Is it “information”? I haven’t the time to check all appropriate products in a supermarket with a mobile phone before I decide to buy. I’d rely on the retailer’s standards.

The British Lion scheme gives stocking density. I gave a link earlier.”a maximum stocking density of 2,000 birds per hectare.“.

Katinka has outlined how it works and there is other information online. At least Australia seems to have publicly available information about stocking densities so if we are interested we can use an app in the shop or maybe check on a website.

I used to think that phone apps were of limited use but soon learned that the phone is analogous to a workshop and the apps are the tools we choose to use.