Organic, Cage-Free, Free-Range or Pastured: Sorting Through the Confusion on Egg Labels

Organic, Cage-Free, Free-Range, or Pasture-Raised Eggs? Dr. Mercola does a good job of defining some of the many terms used to label and market eggs. However, not only is the amount of free-range pasture an egg-laying chicken has access to important, but the quality of their feed as well, as the feed makes up the majority of their diet, even in pasture-based operations. Tests conducted at The Ohio State University have shown that chickens fed a high concentration of soybeans, will pass on the soy protein to the egg yolks of chickens. Hence, if soy is something you are allergic to or trying to avoid in your diet, you may not even realize that you are getting soy protein from your eggs – even organic pastured eggs!

Is the FDA Trying to Destroy the Pastured Egg Industry?

Recent guidance from the FDA will place an impossible burden on farmers who raise true free-range chickens. The FDA guidance suggests that farmers must cover their outdoor pastures with either roofing or netting, or use noise cannons to scare away wild birds. Perhaps it has escaped FDA that noise cannons would also scare the chickens? Or that putting a roof over a multi-acre pasture is not only cost-prohibitive, but would prevent rain and sun from reaching the living things in the pasture? The FDA also advocates walls around the pasture, to prevent mice, rats, and cats from entering, and then put a roof over it. That’s right—walls and roofing. In other words, they want the chickens to be kept in a building! This completely contradicts what “free-range” is supposed to be about!