Cage Free & Free Range Poultry
Along with many other changes in the food industry, the cage-free and free-range food labels have become quite a hit with consumers. Looking to boost sales, grocery stores and restaurants have flaunted their transition to only using eggs that fit these labels, and have received outstanding support. But very few people actually know what these phrases mean.
Both poultry meat and eggs can come from cage-free or free-range birds. Free range chickens are always cage free, but cage free is not always free range. What do I mean? |
Photo from www.abc15.com
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“Cage Free,” is exactly what it sounds like: the chickens are not confined to a cage, they’re allowed to wander around an enclosure. This allows them to engage in more natural behaviors including flying, perching, and foraging. It looks something like this:
“Free Range” goes one step beyond that, per say. For chicken or eggs to be labeled “Free Range,” the birds must have had the ability to roam and had continuous access to the outdoors (for hens specifically, the USDA only makes this requirement during their laying cycle). However, this doesn’t mean that these hens or broilers are spending the day getting their tan on in the wide-open pasture. These systems look a little more like this:
To ensure that only products from these conditions get this labeling (because they’re usually processed at the same plants as non-cage-free products are), the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has to grade and certify both the farms and their products. It’s important to note that another qualification for both of these labels is that the animals have to have access to clean food and water 24/7.
But are these systems really better for the animals?
One of the alternatives, which is actually the most common way for chickens to be grown, is the battery cage system. As I discussed here, these battery cages aren’t as scary as they sound, and actually have many welfare benefits. They improve hygiene, reducing the risk of disease and especially parasites, they prevent bone deformation or fractures, they keep birds safe from cannibalism, feather pecking, and smothering, and they are kept away from predators. Furthermore, keeping them indoors removes climatic stressors.
A Wall Street Journal Article reported that hens kept in cage free barns had higher mortality rates because they were more likely to be pecked to death by other birds. They also found that air quality in the barns was much worse, increasing the risk of disease and presenting sustainability concerns. However, the biggest turn-off WSJ uncovered was economical: Cage free farms cost 36% more to operate than regular barns that use a battery cage or similar system… and that cost is passed on to the consumer.
Many people don’t mind paying more for foods they believe were produced under better conditions (the most popular example is organic), but, as we’re discovering time-and-time again, being grown under different processes that may sound good or come packaged in a brightly colored label might not actually have all of the benefits you think they do. Fancy slogans being used as a marketing gimmick (meaning they are only there to get you to buy them, they don’t actually speak to improved standards) is a reoccurring theme throughout this Food Label Series. Cage free and free range is no exception… those birds are not better off!
But are these systems really better for the animals?
One of the alternatives, which is actually the most common way for chickens to be grown, is the battery cage system. As I discussed here, these battery cages aren’t as scary as they sound, and actually have many welfare benefits. They improve hygiene, reducing the risk of disease and especially parasites, they prevent bone deformation or fractures, they keep birds safe from cannibalism, feather pecking, and smothering, and they are kept away from predators. Furthermore, keeping them indoors removes climatic stressors.
A Wall Street Journal Article reported that hens kept in cage free barns had higher mortality rates because they were more likely to be pecked to death by other birds. They also found that air quality in the barns was much worse, increasing the risk of disease and presenting sustainability concerns. However, the biggest turn-off WSJ uncovered was economical: Cage free farms cost 36% more to operate than regular barns that use a battery cage or similar system… and that cost is passed on to the consumer.
Many people don’t mind paying more for foods they believe were produced under better conditions (the most popular example is organic), but, as we’re discovering time-and-time again, being grown under different processes that may sound good or come packaged in a brightly colored label might not actually have all of the benefits you think they do. Fancy slogans being used as a marketing gimmick (meaning they are only there to get you to buy them, they don’t actually speak to improved standards) is a reoccurring theme throughout this Food Label Series. Cage free and free range is no exception… those birds are not better off!