What is Food Chain Misinformation?
We are all too familiar with images of farmed animals running around on green pastures, surrounded by space, and raised well.
That image is very far from the truth for most animals farmed in the UK.
Read our latest report on Food Chain Misinformation
The way animal farming is depicted
Of the nine supermarkets we investigated, we found that all of them feature images of healthy animals outdoors on their websites; 66.67% of those used imagery or videos of animals alongside farmers. Three did not show any imagery of animals being reared indoors, of the six that did show images of animals indoors, the animals appeared to be healthy and the specific imagery included an image of a cow alongside her calf, images of animals provided with clean hay, and animals in well-lit barns.
TV and radio programmes often highlight life on farms as local, small-scale farmers, with well-cared for animals.
From the 30 random episodes of animal farming programmes across five UK channels we examined, all programmes showed animals living both outdoors and indoors showing high animal welfare imagery only. Prolonged confinement and mutilations - which are standard treatment on industrial farms - was absent in all programmes.
You will often see images of small farms, where farmers look after the animals with great care and concern.
Of the 47 producers and processors of dairy, eggs, and chicken, duck, turkey, pig, and lamb meat we investigated, only three producers did not feature animal imagery on their websites or products. Of the 44 producers that did, 84.09% used imagery, videos, or drawings of animals living outdoors. Whilst 61.36% also showed images of animals indoors, all of the animals appeared healthy, 29.63% showed spacious conditions and 48.15% used blurry, cropped, or unclear imagery.
The reality of animal farming
In 2023-2024, there were over one billion animals processed in approved slaughterhouses in England and Wales. Some sources suggest that 85% of these animals are raised on industrial animal farms, which is designed to use limited space and to maximise profits. Many animals living on these farms are kept indoors the majority of the time, in confined spaces.
Mutilations are a common practice on industrial animal farms, for example chickens are beak-trimmed and pigs are tail-docked. Some farmed animals are also selectively bred to grow quickly at the expense of their health and welfare.
What is the impact of such misinformation?
Animal welfare standards are very important to consumers in the UK. According to the Food Standards Agency’s Annual Animal Welfare report, more than 70% of consumers in England and Wales expressed concern for animal welfare in the food production process. YouGov data shows that approximately 40% of people in the UK agree with the statement ‘advertising helps me choose what to buy’.
Separate research conducted by the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland found that, when asked about their future food concerns over the next three years, 60% of consumers expressed major concerns about the treatment of animals in the food chain.
A recent study also revealed that most UK consumers seek transparent animal product labelling, which includes information regarding animal welfare. In the UK, the sales of cage-free eggs increased by 43% when mandatory labelling was introduced.
The high importance that consumers place on animal welfare is likely key to marketers’ decisions to present products as high welfare.
How the law protects consumers
There are many laws that protect consumers; however, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 is soon to be the most relevant which revokes The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, which currently governs misleading advertising and unfair commercial practices, but the substance of these Regulations is maintained, as set out below. Part Four of the Act is expected to come into force in April 2025.
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 Act prohibits unfair commercial practices, which it defines as a practice that is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision that they would not have taken otherwise, as a result of a misleading action or omission, an aggressive practice, a contravention of the requirements of professional diligence, or if it omits material information from an invitation to purchase.
The Act defines misleading actions as:
the provision of false or misleading information
an overall presentation which is likely to deceive the average consumer
any marketing of a product which creates confusion or is likely to create confusion, with any product, trade mark, trade name or other distinguishing mark of another trader, or
a failure to comply with a requirement in a code of conduct that the trader claims to act in compliance with.
References to information that is true can be considered misleading if presented in a misleading way. Equally, an overall presentation may be deceiving even if the information it contains is true.
Section 227 of the Act prohibits misleading omissions, i.e. practices that omit material information, omit information which the trader is required to give to a consumer, or fail to identify the commercial intent, unless it is already apparent from the context. Material information means information that the average consumer needs to take an informed transactional decision.
The ‘average consumer’ is defined as reasonably well informed, reasonably observant, and reasonably circumspect.
The Fraud Act 2006, under section 2, prohibits fraud by false representation. A person commits fraud by false representation if they dishonestly make a false representation and intend, by making the representation, to make a gain for themselves or another, or to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss. A representation is false if it is untrue or misleading and the person making it knows that it is, or might be, untrue or misleading. As section 3 of the Fraud Act sets out, a person may also commit fraud by dishonestly failing to disclose information which they are under a legal duty to disclose.
Case study: Free Range Eggs
In 2013, a Dorset couple were fined £300 each and ordered to pay £1,178 costs after pleading guilty to six offences for passing off intensively farmed eggs as free range. The couple were selling eggs in plain boxes, while chickens were seen roaming freely in their garden. The eggs were sold just outside the gate of the couple’s house, from a metal box with cartons of eggs next to an honesty box and a sign saying ‘eggs £2.20/doz’. However, Dorset Trading Standards discovered that the couple had bought eggs sourced from hens kept in battery cages, and had removed the supplier’s markings. Trading Standards’ case was that the presentation of the eggs would give the average person the clear impression that the eggs were from the hens that could be seen roaming freely in their garden. The couple were charged with offences under the Consumer Protection Regulations, The Food Safety Act, and the General Food Regulations 2004. The offences charged included misleading actions and omissions under Regulations 5 and 6 of the Consumer Protection Regulations and presentation that was likely to mislead consumers as to the nature of the food contrary to section 15(3) of the Food Safety Act. There was also an offence under Regulation 4 of the General Food Regulations 2004, involving a breach of Article 18(2) of Regulation (EC) 178/2002, which deals with traceability. Dorset Trading Standards found an issue with traceability of the eggs to an identifiable supplier.
In 2018, a Dorset farmer was given a suspended prison sentence after falsely claiming that eggs sourced from hens raised in crowded pens were free-range. The hens were stocked at higher densities than the relevant EU Regulations allowed. The farmer knew that it was an offence to continue classifying the eggs as free range considering his stocking densities, and he provided inspectors with false information and paperwork. The farmer admitted fraud and giving false information to an inspector.
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