{"id":6729,"date":"2017-11-30T08:35:06","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T08:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vitaminpacks.com\/blog\/?p=6729"},"modified":"2020-01-24T22:25:38","modified_gmt":"2020-01-24T22:25:38","slug":"cage-free-range-pastured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.personanutrition.com\/blog\/cage-free-range-pastured\/","title":{"rendered":"Cage Free, Free Range, Pastured \u2013 What Does It Mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"In aneffort to make it to the top of the pecking order in the food isle, eggproducers are labeling their products in a way to become more \u201ctransparent\u201d tothe consumer. After all, who doesn\u2019t feel better about purchasing eggs fromfarms that treat their animals well? Egg cartons seem to be \u201cupping\u201d their gamewith labels like \u201cCage Free\u201d, \u201cFree Range\u201d, and \u201cPastured\u201d. Pictures ofchickens roaming free in lush, green fields are displayed on the front, makingyou feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. Even though crafty labeling makes usfeel good about our purchase, there is a dark truth that may lie beneath thesurface. It\u2019s easy to get confused and overwhelmed by labels used in the animalproduct industry, and it doesn\u2019t just stop at eggs. Labels like, \u201cNatural\u201d,\u201cGrass Fed\u201d, \u201cRaised Without Antibiotics\u201d, and \u201cNitrite Free\u201d, only make itworse. Here are the true definitions of what the egg industry is reallyclaiming.Cage FreeIn termsof humanely raised chickens, cage free is at the bottom of the list, justslightly above battery cages where the majority of egg-laying hens are kept. Abattery cage is, on average, smaller than a sheet of letter-sized paper.1In order to meet demands, lights may be kept on indoors to reduce melatoninactivity in birds, which encourages constant egg production. While this iscertainly difficult to grasp, removing the cages isn\u2019t necessarily a large leapin progress. Cage free hens are able to participate in natural behavior such aswalking, spreading their wings, and nesting, removing some of the stress andfrustration from being confined to a battery cage. Although, they still lead alife of confinement in metal barns with poor living conditions and inhumanetreatment.1Free RangeMoving upon the list, the USDA states, \u201cProducers must demonstrate to the Agency thatthe poultry has been allowed access to the outside\u201d in order to label a product\u201cFree Range\u201d.2 However, there is no definition for \u201coutside access\u201d.Outside access could mean a large, open door to a farm field, or it could meana small opening that leads to a rocky cliff. It may even mean a \u201cpop hole\u201d withno full-body access, or access to the outdoors in some way for just a fewminutes a day.3 Hens may be far too frightened to venture outside ontheir own and choose to stay inside because they were raised indoors.Unfortunately, these definitions are vague and don\u2019t hold farmers to anyaccountability.PasturedAlthoughthere is no legal definition for the term, pastured chickens are free to roamoutside and are presented with a buffet of grass, bugs, and worms.4They have the freedom to spend their time outdoors and resembles the lives ofchickens raised on a true farm. In addition, one study found that the eggs ofpastured hens contained twice as much vitamin E and long-chain omega-3 fattyacids as caged hens.5 Have you ever cracked open a pastured egg anda caged egg side by side? Even the difference in appearance is evident, onerich in color and solid in structure, the other pale and soft. Pastured eggsare certainly top of the list, right under buying eggs from your neighbor whohas chickens wondering around their yard.As labelscontinue to constantly change, purchasing food becomes more difficult. Thirdparty companies such as Certified Humane have stepped in to help, offeringclear definitions to make our job easier. For example, while the USDA defines\u201cFree Range\u201d as having \u201coutdoor access\u201d, Certified Humane products require 2square feet per bird and the hens must be outdoors for at least 6 hours per day(weather permitting). They also require \u201cPasture Raised\u201d birds to have 108square feet of pasture per bird with year-round outdoor access and housing toprotect themselves.3 Doesn\u2019t that sound like what you had in mindoriginally? Now it\u2019s up to you to become your own personal nutrition detective.Source:Cage-Freevs. Battery-Cage Eggs. TheHumane Society. http:\/\/m.humanesociety.org\/issues\/confinement_farm\/facts\/cage-free_vs_battery-cage.html.Accessed November 16, 2017.Meat andPoultry Labeling Terms. United States Department of Agriculture.https:\/\/www.fsis.usda.gov\/wps\/portal\/fsis\/topics\/food-safety-education\/get-answers\/food-safety-fact-sheets\/food-labeling\/meat-and-poultry-labeling-terms\/meat-and-poultry-labeling-terms.Accessed November 16, 2017.\u201cFreeRange\u201d and \u201cPasture Raised\u201d officially defined by HFAC for Certified Humanelabel. Certified Humane. Published January 16, 2014. Accessed November 16,2017.Weil A.Are \u201cPastured\u201d Eggs Better? Dr Weil.https:\/\/www.drweil.com\/diet-nutrition\/food-safety\/are-pastured-eggs-better\/.Published November 5, 2015. Accessed November 16, 2017.Karsten H,Patterson P, Stout R, Crews G. Vitamins A, E and fatty acid composition of theeggs of caged hens and pastured hens.RenewableAgriculture and Food Systems. 2010;25(01):45-54.doi:10.1017\/s1742170509990214.This information is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional or any information contained on or in any product label or packaging. Do not use the information from this article for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing medication or other treatment. Always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before taking any medication or nutritional, herbal or homeopathic supplement, or using any treatment for a health problem. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your health care provider promptly. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking professional advice because of something you have read in this article.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an effort to make it to the top of the pecking order in the food isle, egg producers are labeling their products in a way to become more \u201ctransparent\u201d to the consumer. After all, who doesn\u2019t feel better about purchasing","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":6761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,247],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-and-nutrition","category-health-and-diet","category-wellness-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.personanutrition.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.personanutrition.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.personanutrition.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.personanutrition.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.personanutrition.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6729"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.personanutrition.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10491,"href":"https:\/\/www.personanutrition.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6729\/revisions\/10491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.personanutrition.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.personanutrition.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.personanutrition.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.personanutrition.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}