Truth in Labeling: Cage Free, Pastured or Free Range Chicken and Eggs

Is free-range chicken the same as pastured chicken? It depends! Pastured, cage-free, and free-range usually mean different things. Add in various marketing terms such as organic, natural, and vegetarian feed and you’re probably being misinformed.

What Is the Meaning of “Cage-Free”

• Battery Cage: While banned in Europe, the vast majority of egg producers in the US keep their hens grouped in tiny cages. Each hen lives its life in the space of an iPad without a place to nest, lay, flap, or walk.
• Cage-Free Chickens Type #1: Most of the confusion comes from the term “cage-free”. If you have 10,000 birds on a concrete floor there’s not much difference between removing the cages and keeping the cages. Severe overcrowding, ammonia, fighting and stress create an environment for sick birds who need antibiotics to survive.
• Cage-Free Chickens Type #2: Some growers (especially those feeding organic feed) give the birds a little more floor space, but still provide no room for nests. And chickens have a pecking system, which can be fatal. As a result, many growers remove part of the beak to prevent injury.
• Cage-Free Chickens Type #3: Other growers using conventional feed and growing methods keep birds stacked on shelves in a brightly lit chicken house. They’re still packed tightly and have nowhere to roam.

What Are Free-Range Chickens?

• Free-Range Chickens Type #1:  As in #2 above, these birds are able to “range freely” inside massive barns with small openings to the outdoors. These chickens may have a little more room, better ventilation, and even some nesting areas, but it’s impossible to tell by looking at the egg carton.
• Free-Range Chickens Type #2: These free range birds spend more time outside in the dirt or in concrete floored cages to keep predators away. Their living area may still be crowded but quality of life is better. Debeaking is not needed. They get more sunshine but still no grass.
• Free-Range Chickens Type #3: Pastured birds living outside on grass are the truest form of “free-range” chickens. If they truly are pastured, the carton should state “pasture-raised”.

Pastured Chickens Make Healthier Eggs

Pastured birds live outside with shade, eat bugs, rummage about in real grass, and only get Organic supplemental feed (non-soy) when required. They have safe housing at night, with some farmers using portable coops and dragging nest houses to fresh grass each day.

Nutritional Benefits of Pastured Eggs

• Pastured chickens yield nutrient-dense eggs richer in nutrients than other eggs. The USDA reports that pastured eggs have two-thirds more Vitamin A, two times more natural Omega-3 fatty acids, three times more Vitamin E, and seven times more Beta-Carotene.
• Pastured eggs have one-third less cholesterol and a quarter of the saturated fat than commercial eggs fed on corn, wheat, and soy.
• The egg yolk contains most of the nutrients. The whites contain mostly protein. Try adding extra yolks to your smoothie if you don’t need the protein from the whites.

Where to Find Pastured Eggs

• Local farmer markets often have pastured eggs. Ask the vendor if the birds were raised only on grass and bugs, and organic supplement feed.
• In stores, Vital Farms is the brand I rely on.

Are Organic Eggs the Best Quality Egg?

Generally, this term refers to birds fed organic corn and soy instead of genetically modified corn and soy.

“Organic” can also refer to avoiding antibiotics. Chicken labeled organic must also be free-range, although verification inspections are random, and “free-range” is a vague term.

Fun Facts about Chickens

Enjoy my podcast with Andrew Lawler on his wonderful book “Why Did the Chicken Cross the World and Become a Global Superstar?” Find over 100 episodes on my “Top 5 Science-Centered Paleo Podcasts” (awarded by Paleo Magazine) for Primal Diet – Modern Health on iTunes.