MP Speaks Up About Free-Range Produce

11.32.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 11th Mar 2008

Susan Kramer, MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston has spoken up about the difficulties for small caterers who want to go 100% free-range, like the Wetlands Centre in Barnes.

Susan Kramer spoke in a Westminster Hall debate, to highlight the difficulties the Wetlands Centre has had in ensuring a constant supply of free-range chicken and eggs.

Susan Kramer MP commented:

"The Chicken Out campaign has done a fantastic job of promoting free range chickens and eggs, however, there is much more still to be done to ensure that enough free range produce is available to satisfy demand."

"I have spoken to the Barnes Wetlands Centre about this issue, and they report that while they would love to use free range produce all the time, they simply cannot get enough to supply them all the time."

"There is a shortage of free range produce for small caterers like the Wetlands, as the larger supermarkets monopolise the markets. This also means that prices are driven up."

"The Wetlands Centre has to pay a premium of something like £7 extra per free range chicken, and around 10 pence extra for each free-range egg."

"I want the Government to support farmers who go free-range, so that there is enough available for small caterers like the Wetlands Centre."

Notes

The full text of the debate is at http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2008-03-04a.353.0