Cage Free Eggs Meaning

February 15, 2020

We also know some consumers prefer their eggs to come from free range hens. W alking through the egg aisle of any grocery store youll be confronted with a variety of labels on cartons.

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For the UEP cage-free means that hens are able to roam vertically and horizontally in indoor barns and have at least 1 square foot of floor space each.

Cage free eggs meaning. But these labels are misleading. Cage free basically means the birds have never been confined in a cage. Cage-free pasture-raised organic humane.

Some labels indicate that the eggs inside are Natural while others boast Free-range or even Certified Organic. Cage-free does not mean cruelty-free. Free-range is not the same as organic.

Eggs packed in USDA grademarked consumer packages labeled as cage free must be produced by hens housed in a building room or enclosed area that allows for unlimited access to food water and provides the freedom to roam within the area during the laying cycle. You might picture hens pecking around a pasture enjoying plenty of space. Some research shows cage-free eggs have lower risk of salmonella infection than those that have been conventionally raised.

Cage-free hens often live in crowded areas with thousands of hens that never go outside. That doesnt mean they get fresh air and sunshine. But Prop 12 uses a definition of cage-free that means 1 to 15 square feet of space.

Heres something that the egg industry doesnt want you to know. Unfortunately it is not a USDA-regulated term so it can mean different things depending on the brand. If the public doesnt look up the guidelines the definition is very rarely mentioned in the press and will most likely go unnoticed.

This term applies typically to eggs and egg products. Cage-free a term regulated by the USDA means that the eggs come from hens that put simply arent caged. Cage-free eggs are a step up from eggs produced by hens who live in battery cages but the hens who lay these eggs still live constrained and impoverished lives.

Cage-free hens typically live inside barns. Salmonella is a bacterial disease that strikes the intestinal tract. And the definition is technically left out of the proposition.

They can freely roam a building room or enclosed area with unlimited access to. It may cause symptoms such as fever diarrhea and abdominal cramps. Eggs laid by these free range hens are also sometimes called free range eggs or free roaming eggs.

What exactly does that mean. But what savvy animal-friendly consumers really want to know is whether their purchases promote higher welfare practices. In response the egg industry has created labels that sound appealing such as cage-free free-range free-roaming organic and natural in order to attract more customers.

Then the USDA gets involved and producers need to comply with the following. Instead Prop 12 says in 2022 the hens will become cage-free based on The United Egg Producers 2017 Guidelines definition. Means cage-free plus access to outdoors This doesnt mean chickens have access to green fields and sunshine.

Cage-free hens by contrast are able to walk freely inside the building in which theyre housed and lay their eggs in nests. Cage-free marked on a carton of eggs means quite simply that the hens laying those eggs are not kept in cages. Again that sounds good but the label has a fairly limited legal definition and the practices of some farmers only following the letter of the law make this.

Many people who buy eggs believe free-range means the hens are not caged true and they are roaming outdoors most of the time ehuncertain. A cage free label on a carton of eggs means they have been laid by hens that are able to roam vertically and horizontally in indoor houses according to the US. For AMS approval cage-free eggs must be produced by hens housed in a way that allows for not only unlimited access to food and water but unlike eggs from caged hens also provides them the freedom to roam during the laying cycle.

Hens who peck in a field or open area and. Cage-free housing can vary from farm to farm. Cage free eggs are ones that were laid by hens who live in barns or warehouses not in battery cages.

Free-range is another tricky claim. They may not have access to outside. The vast number of terms on egg carton labels can leave grocery shoppers feeling dazed and confused.

A key benefit of cage-free eggs.

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