Complicated Eggs!
Posted by Cups | Posted on 16-10-2009
Category : Food & Beverages
Tags: Eggs
There are so many different labels on eggs now that it is difficult to figure out which ones you want to purchase. I received this great Ideal Bite tip the other day and figured it was well worth sharing.
Animal Welfare Approved, American Humane Certified, or Certified Humane – eggs came from farms independently certified by animal welfare nonprofits (note: the latter two do allow beak-cutting).
Cage Free – not regulated, but it usually means producers keep hens uncaged in barns or warehouses (though often there’s no outdoor access).
Free Range – typically means the hens are uncaged and have outdoor access – but nobody checks on the amount or duration.
Natural – the USDA says Natural food products can’t contain “any artificial or synthetic ingredients, and it must be minimally processed” – vague enough that it could apply to just about any egg.
Organic – third-party-audited label that means the hens are uncaged and have access to the outdoors, and get a diet of organic, vegetarian feed without any antibiotics (beak-cutting and forced molting are permitted).
Pasture Raised – unregulated, but typically birds raised this way have the chance to go outdoors and eat an organic diet.
United Egg Producers Certified – producers can restrict hens to small cages and beak-cutting is allowed (but forced molting isn’t).
No Label – the hens were probably raised in a factory farm; if a company can make a claim, it usually will.
beak cutting is pretty nasty but is the case for all chickens unless otherwise said per labeling above – they literally clip their beaks so that they don’t peck at themselves – otherwise they’ll nearly peck themselves to death…wouldn’t you if you lived in a cage barely large enough to stand up and turn around in??
