By LAURA WAKELY
HAVE you ever thought about where your food comes from?
The Caroline Springs Animal Welfare Network is hoping to get people thinking about that topic from the supplier, to the supermarket right to the dining room table.
This Friday they’re launching the Cruelty Free Guide to the West – a directory of businesses across the western suburbs that stock and serve vegan, fair-trade and cruelty-free products.
Network president Rana Hales said the guide showed how easy it was to find those products, close to home.
Group members scoured the streets, surveying stores and visiting businesses to verify their produce, discovering places from Melton to Wyndham.
But don’t think you have to be a vegetarian or vegan to use the guide.
“The process is for people who are novices and have no idea, for them to see how easy it was and how easy it is to change purchasing habits,” Rana said.
“The whole purpose of our group is to educate people so it kind of feeds into our mission in the first place.”
And for those who believe cruelty-free or fair-trade products break the budget?
Rana said demand for a product can result in more competition, and drive prices down.
“You’ve just got to look at free range eggs,” she said.
“You can’t put a price on ethics.”
Humane Research Australia’s Helen Marston will speak at the launch of the guide, with vegan fare canapés for those curious to find out more about cruelty-free food.
The Caroline Springs Animal Welfare Network will launch the Cruelty Free Guide to the West at 7pm this Friday 13 July at Westwaters Hotel and Entertainment Complex in Caroline
Springs.
For information visit www.csawn.org
