By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator

When it comes to food marketing, I’m starting to believe that both consumers and farmers may be getting the short end of the stick.

Perhaps farmers have been too focused on what they do best; producing an abundant and generally safe supply of food at a reasonable price to consumers, to worry about misleading advertising.  Perhaps consumers don’t know enough about farm practices to see past the marketing hype to be able to make an informed purchasing choice.

Recently I took a friend out for lunch and while perusing the menu I noticed that your everyday chicken burger was tagged as “vegetarian fed” and “hormone-free.” The inflated price told me that this restaurant was trying to cash in at the expense of its customers and possibly its suppliers too.

I have to admit I was completely annoyed and frustrated by this marketing ploy. But it did provide me with an opportunity to give my friend a short course in poultry production 101.

First I began with the fact that poultry are natural omnivores. Last I heard they haven’t declared worms and bugs a vegetable. Feeding chickens a vegetarian diet is akin to feeding dogs a vegetarian diet. Some people do it but it doesn’t make it a natural diet or nutritionally better.

Vegetarian chicken feed doesn’t make chicken safer to eat or more environmentally friendly to produce. An argument can even be made that it is less environmentally friendly since it eliminates a valuable use for meat waste.  Less expensive meat protein makes up less than 10% of a typical chicken ration, so even replacing that small amount with vegetable protein can’t justify the highly inflated price on the menu, I told my friend.  And whether the farmer receives a fair share of that higher menu price is hard to know.

Then we moved onto a long standing urban myth. Namely, that poultry are given steroids or hormones. Nothing could be further from the truth. Although tried in the early days of commercial production, hormones and steroids have not been approved for use in raising poultry for nearly 50 years. Why? Not because they are harmful but because they simply don’t work in non-mammals such as birds.

However, there is still a widespread misconception among customers, promoted by marketers, media and activists alike, that this is a standard and dangerous practice. One recent example is an Australian poll conducted in 2010 that showed that 76 per cent believed hormones and/or steroids are used in chicken production. My friend was under that belief too. The reason? Because of labeling and menus such as this, she told me.

So how, she asked me, can the restaurant get away with saying this?  The reason, I explained, is because they are telling the truth just not the whole truth—namely that all chicken is “hormone-free”.  Needless to say we ordered the pasta instead.

Until the next BLOG.

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Posted by OFAC on May 5th, 2011 :: Filed under Chickens,Consumers,Misconceptions,Poultry,Sustainability,Urban Myths
Tags :: chicken, Consumers, diet, food, Poultry
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