One little word can make a big difference…
Did you know that Australia currently has no regulation around the use of the word ‘organic’ on packaging? That means a product with as little as 2% organic ingredients can make a claim to being organic – making it hard to recognise the genuine article. This confusion is something we really want to change, and it’s why we’re a proud sponsor of September’s Australian Organic Awareness Month.
If you want to know you’re buying something that’s truly organic, you need to look out for products with a ‘certified organic’ logo – a sign it’s gone through a rigorous certification process. To be certified organic, a product must meet the requirements set out by an approved certification standard, such as the National Standard for Organic and Bio-dynamic Produce or the Australian Certified Organic Standard. Certified organic products have been carefully tested through every step of their production process, right from the farmer’s field through to the store shelf.
When it comes to gaining our organic certification here at Yallamundi, it means ensuring our hens live on certified organic pasture and eat a certified organic diet. They are never given antibiotics – instead they’re fed a broad range of herbs, vitamins and minerals designed to build healthy immune systems. We have to guarantee no pesticides have been used on our land for the last seven years, and make sure that both farm and feed are always free of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides.
Gaining organic certification also means demonstrating animals are ethically treated and always have their needs met. At Yallamundi, that means ensuring our organic hens are free-range and rotated to fresh foraging ground every 60 days. They also have twice the minimum space to roam (just 750 hens per hectare).
So why do we work so hard to gain organic certification for our eggs? At Yallamundi, it’s our mission to produce the very best food we can, in a way that’s gentle to our animals and has the lightest possible impact on the land – all of which aligns with the requirements of organic certification, and makes it something of a no-brainer for us. This Australian Organic Awareness Month, we’re working hard to spread the message of what it really means to be certified organic – because we believe truly great eggs are the ones that are good for animals, the environment and Aussie families alike.