The New England MP said free-range egg producers attempting to comply with the law must be shown “some latitude” by the country’s peak competition regulator.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) pursuit of farming operations for making “misleading” claims over free-range eggs has angered the industry.

The backlash prompted state and federal ministers to announce last Friday the development of an enforceable national standard on egg labelling.

NSW Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Victor Dominello said the average Australian consumes about 220 eggs a year.

He said it was therefore imperative that labelling allowed consumers to make informed decisions when purchasing free-range or caged eggs.

“This is a significant win for consumers and producers and I thank my counterparts for demonstrating leadership on what has been a difficult issue,” he said.

“Growing uncertainty about the definition of free-range has meant many consumers have lost confidence in the existing regulation of egg labelling.”

A recent Choice report claimed shoppers were paying twice as much for eggs labelled free-range, but the absence of a clear definition rendered the term pointless.

Mr Joyce said a key aspect of his upcoming agriculture White Paper would be to resource the ACCC with more experts in farming to avoid “confusion between regulation and reality”.

“A lot of chooks that have the opportunity to be free-range choose to stay in the airconditioned premises where they slept the night before,” he said.

“I think there should always be the latitude for people who are genuinely trying to be compliant not be faced with penalties for things that are basically out of their control.

“It’s not that (the ACCC) deliberately goes out to be litigious or over-prescriptive, it’s just that ... they don’t have a wide enough skill set in the agricultural sector.”