Garnett's offending was the first such case in 10 years, said the Poultry Industry Association. Photo / Northern Advocate
Garnett's offending was the first such case in 10 years, said the Poultry Industry Association. Photo / Northern Advocate
A Whangarei egg producer managed to dupe consumers by passing off caged eggs as free range despite the Ministry of Primary Industries doing annual checks on his operation.
The Poultry Industry Association NZ said John Garnett's offending was the first in Northland as far as its records showed but asimilar offence of deliberate deception was recorded in 2001.
The association's executive director Michael Brooks said another case popped up in Wairarapa some time after 2001 but the egg producer had errors in records rather than deliberately misled his customers. He was nonetheless fined because it amounted to misleading, he said.
Garnett's offending was the first such case in 10 years, he said.
"So it's very, very rare. The other thing people should understand is that every commercial egg farmer has to have a risk management plan because they supply to supermarkets."
Some are audited 10 to 12 times a year by Government officials, he said.
Mr Brooks also rubbished Garnett's claim in his defence that wrong labelling was common in the industry.
"He's not provided any evidence to support his claim. His case was the first and last and anyone thinking of doing something silly like that should know that the matter will be treated very seriously."
He hoped the actions of one egg producer didn't tarnish the reputation of the industry and assured the public they could still have confidence in egg suppliers.
"We have also taken steps to ensure more stringent traceability processes, enforced by MPI, are in place to prevent this type of dishonest behaviour in the future."
Garnett's offending came to light after egg suppliers began questioning where extra free range eggs were coming from and took their concerns to the egg marketing group, Independent Egg Producers' Co-op. Forest Hill Farm, co-owned by Garnett, only produced cage eggs and when it needed non-cage eggs to fulfil its supermarket supply contracts, it purchased them from Otaika Valley Free Range Eggs.
Checks by the Commerce Commission showed a substantial reduction in the sale of free range eggs by Otaika Valley to Forest Hill Farm after July 2010. The Animal Products Act 1999 required most egg producers to operate under a registered risk management programme (RMP) that required eggs from different farm regimes to be kept separate at all times.
Spokeswoman Kathryn O'Sullivan said all egg producers with a registered RMP were checked on at least annually and verifiers would be expected to raise any issues of incorrect labelling.
