You see terms like organic, free range, all natural, and cage free… but what the heck does this all mean and which should you choose?
Free Range
This term is pretty much useless. The term “free range” sounds great and all but if you put a Ferrari sticker on a Fiat it will still be a Fiat (nothing against Fiats). By FDA standards, the free range chicken must have access to the outside at least part of the time. This means that the farmers can have a door leading outside the coop that only needs to be open a small percentage of each day. The chickens are still living in cramped conditions and eating terribly processed food. This is also a way to charge more for the same sub-standard product.
Cage Free
This term doesn’t even have clearly set guidelines by the FDA. Basically chickens aren’t living in metal cages but are packed into henhouses to the point where they can’t move. Dead chickens are cleared out from underfoot every once in a while and the chickens never go outside. These would be considered worse than free range, but not by much. They are both equally disgusting and inhumane.
All Natural
This is the most ambiguous and disingenuous term there is with eggs. There is no way that a hen can lay an egg unnaturally. This is a term used by marketers to present the image of happy, pasture-based hens when instead it it quite the opposite.
Omega-3 Fortified
Hens producing these eggs are feed straight flaxseed, linseed, or a direct supplement. There are varying degrees of the good fat found in each egg. These eggs do however tend to come from organic, cage free birds so they are usually better. Don’t rely on these as a primary source of omega-3. Stick to the fish oil.
So what should you buy?
The chicken’s digestive system is not some magically food cleansing machine. What we feed chickens and the conditions in which they are kept in trickles down to the condition of their eggs. If not for steroids, being fed corn and soy along with living in cramped environments would atrophy the chicken so that it couldn’t produce eggs. Find yourself some eggs from chickens that are actually organic, cage-free and pasture raised whose main food source is grasses and insects. This is the way nature intended it to be. Try the farmers market for the best or at least stick to organic, cage-free, pasture-raised eggs at your local gourmet grocery store. Your wallet might take a hit but it is an investment in your health for later on down the road.
