Published on March 29, 2022
Highlight on egg marketing: Respectful eggs
Leading free range packer, Stonegate Farmers, has launched what it is claiming is the UK’s first carbon neutral egg brand: Respectful. Respectful brand adopts several practices and policies that embraces the natural environment, rather than placing a strain on it.
The brand’s standout principle is its eschewing of soya feed – linked to deforestation in the Amazon – which was the “single biggest contributor of carbon in the production of eggs”, Stonegate added. The near 50% reduction in farm-gate emissions is achieved largely by this replacement of imported south American soya-meal and oil with UK grown alternatives. The Respectful brand uses field beans grown on Stonegate’s farms throughout the UK, which are processed into chicken feed by the supplier’s own feed mills, which also allows to reduce the food miles required to feed its laying hens. The field beans complement rapeseed and sunflower protein and oil sources.
Respectful’s sustainability credentials are further burnished by its use of the most efficient chicken breed on the planet: The Dekalb White. The Dekalb White hens produces white eggs, and the laying hens are free to graze on open pastures. The Dekalb White is significantly more productive than standard brown laying hens (discover the story about 500 eggs per hen housed), they live longer, and consume less feed, all contributing to a lower environmental impact, said Stonegate supply chain director, Tom Willings.
Both the farm and the packing center used renewable energy from Respectful’s own solar array, he added, as well as procured wind energy, further contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions.
Stonegate is investing in projects focused on forest protection in South America, while Climate Partner, the solutions provider for corporate climate action, had independently verified the carbon footprint of the Respectful egg – monitoring its journey and impact from its beginnings on the farm through to grocery stores.
“We want customers to trust in our food, to trust in our eggs, and know that when they are purchasing a Respectful egg, that we have not only endeavored to place the lightest footprint possible in delivering them a natural and delicious egg, but that every day we are trying to tread lighter still. The Respectful egg reflects our passion for sustainable farming and the environment, our love for our hens, and our commitment to decarbonisation,”
Tom Willings
At Stonegate they make use of the carbon footprinting module of Eggbase.
