Do you ever question the ethical practices that put the food on your plate at your favourite restaurant? What about your local takeout? Do they source humanely-farmed food, like cage-free eggs?
With the vast majority of eggs used in food service coming from hens confined for their entire lives in a battery cage, it’s more important than ever to support cafes and restaurants that are choosing more humanely-farmed, cage-free options.
Don’t worry though, the RSPCA’s Choose Wisely website is here to help and it’s very simple to use.
Putting humane food on the menu
Search for restaurants and cafes near you, or food spots that suit your specific cravings, and discover which ones support higher welfare farming systems when buying ingredients.
There are two levels for participation by a venue:
- Those using “humane food all the way” – meaning all eggs, chicken and pork ingredients come from animals raised in higher welfare farming systems.
- Those that are “on the way” to using entirely humanely produced animal-based food but importantly already use whole cage-free eggs, meaning your poached eggs aren’t sourced from battery cage systems.
It’s your choice, we respect that
While RSPCA respects the choices of people who don’t consume meat or other animal products, we’re not a vegetarian or vegan organisation.
We acknowledge that one way of reducing the suffering of animals in livestock production systems is by not purchasing products that are sourced from farm animals we believe we can do far more to help improve how farm animals are treated by supporting higher production standards for farm animals.
We support better farm animal welfare
Many people would like to source products from animals farmed in a more humane manner, and the RSPCA wants to help ensure these products are readily available.
So, while the farming of animals for food and fibre continues, RSPCA seeks to ensure that the conditions under which those animals live meet their physical and behavioural needs.
We believe we can help improve how farm animals are treated by getting involved in the process and constantly pushing for higher production standards along the supply chain.
Know what you’re eating and where it’s come from
By looking for RSPCA Approved and dining at Choose Wisely listed restaurants, you know you’re cooking and eating ethical produce and supporting ethical producers.
In the long run, RSPCA South Australia would love all restaurants to get on board with this initiative and publicise their use of humane food to their customers.
Help us find more humane eateries
Can’t find your favourite café or restaurant on Choose Wisely but you know they use cage-free eggs? Or you’ve recently dined out and saw that cage-free eggs were on their menu?
You should add them as a customer suggestion and give them the recognition they deserve, it only takes 1 minute!
Visit choosewisely.org.au/suggest-a-venue to make a suggestion and help us spread the word about which eating spots care about animal welfare.
Here are our top picks for ethical Adelaide Eateries
Want to know our current favourites? They are:
- Bar 9 Central 100 Rundle Mall, Adelaide
- My Kingdom for A Horse 191-195 Wright Street, Adelaide
- Bond & Lane Canteen 1 Salisbury Crescent, Colonel Light Gardens Adelaide
We want you to tell us how you’ll use it
Adelaide’s Alyssa McKellar is a humane eater and writer who says she will definitely use the website.
“It’s impossible to know whether restaurants are ethical or not and how they source their meat or where they get their produce from, so this is fantastic,” she says.
Meanwhile, Anna Christian says she would have liked to have found the website sooner to help her investigate restaurants that she was concerned about.
“Sometimes you get the feeling that their ingredients aren’t sourced well but there’s no way of telling, so I will definitely use the website for that,” Anna says.
‘It’s something I hadn’t thought of’
Adelaide diner Sam Smith says the service is something incredibly helpful that she hadn’t even thought of.
“I think it will allow me to make more conscious decisions about what I eat and even support those that are making an effort to be more ethical with their business,” Sam says.
Have you eaten at a Choose Wisely-listed restaurant? Spread the word using the hashtags #RSPCAchoosewisely #ichosewisely #eathumane #humanefood and #cagefreeeggs and help us encourage more South Australians to choose wisely, too.
