Cracking the egg dilemma may cost poorer shoppers South Melbourne Market has announced it will ban caged eggs from December and no trader at the market will be permitted to sell caged hen eggs or use them in recipes at restaurants or cafes. THE self-righteous egg bullies have well and truly arrived in town. In South Melbourne, in fact. That's where you will find one of the most preposterous ideological food bans possible. The free-range egg debate has been running hot for a long time now: hens wandering freely around paddocks versus hens cooped up in confined spaces with little or no access to sunlight or grass. It's a no-brainer as to which system any decent person would want to choose to source their eggs from - a no-brainer when presented in a simplistic way. We see it all the time - Animals Australia finds the anomalous example of cattle cruelty in a remote part of the world and cries foul over an entire industry. Such is the noise from the animal rights groups, everyone either swallows their entire story or are too scared to take a contrary position for fear of being branded cruel and heartless. Throw the well-meaning do-gooders into the mix and it has the potential to do major damage to a legitimate industry. Which is what we are seeing at the South Melbourne Market. The market is following retailers such as Coles and fast-food giant McDonald's in banning eggs from caged hens. But whereas the Coles and McDonald's bans are for the actual eggs, the South Melbourne Market ban extends to any product made from caged eggs. That means a ban on every cake, pasta, quiche or pie sold at the market if the eggs in them come from caged hens. Port Phillip City Council mayor Amanda Stevens said the decision was "an ethical one which we believe reflects the desires of our customers and business partners and we reserve the right to decide the types of stores and products we make available." That was despite those traders The Weekly Times spoke to saying no customer had ever asked where the eggs in their products came from. South Melbourne Market manager Ross Williamson admitted no research had been conducted into how many eggs were sold through the market, but was able to declare: "This may sound dogmatic, but we know this is going to be a successful project." I suspect he might be right, considering the vendors and customers have no say on it. Even if the price of eggs at the market, and possibly the egg-made products, rise. One egg vendor said the decision had caused her costs to jump from $3000 a week to $5500, forcing her to lift egg prices by $2-$3 a dozen. Many vendors lamented what that would mean to older and poorer customers. There is a reason we have a caged-egg system and it is not because someone one day decided to be cruel to chooks. Once upon a time there was only free range. But as we became urbanised and populations swelled, the demand for food - irrespective of the season and where the customer was - forced the development of more efficient production systems to allow mass food production. Hothouses, feedlots, caged-egg farms and rotary dairies were all developed to produce food efficiently. Free-range eggs are great, but they cost more to produce in terms of land, labour and transport. And hens out in the open mean greater risk of disease from other birds, which is another cost. If people want to unravel modern production systems, they must be prepared to pay for it. Which is of little consolation to those less fortunate in our community. South Melbourne Market may soon realise that when it comes to this issue, it can't have its cake and eat it too.