According to the dictionary of terms at Sustainable Table, cage free means birds raised without cages. "Well, duh," you might reply. But I sort of thought that it meant birds roaming around on the fields, pecking bugs, pulling grass. According to Sustainable Table, "What this doesn't explain is if the birds were raised outdoors on pasture, if they had access to outside, or if they were raised indoors in overcrowded conditions. If you want to buy eggs or poultry that was raised outdoors, look for a label that says "Pastured" or "Pasture-raised."
The label "free range" is even more misleading - and believe me, I have confidently carried my free range poultry to the checkout counter more than once. What a dupe. It turns out that the definition of free range (at least according to Sustainable Table; please correct me if I am mislead and in turn misleading you) is
a term that refers to animals (usually poultry, and the eggs that they produce) that are not confined, meaning that these animals are able to go outdoors to engage in natural behaviors. It does not necessarily mean that the products are cruelty-free or antibiotic-free, or that the animals spend the majority of their time outdoors. The use of the term 'free range' is only defined by the USDA for poultry production, and need only mean that the bird has had some access to the outdoors each day, which could be a dirty or concrete feedlot. USDA considers five minutes of open-air access each day to be adequate. (Emphasis mine.)Opps - not exactly what I had in mind when I envisioned "free range." I guess it does matter what "is" means after all. I'm going to look for "Pastured" or "Pasture-raised." I might be eating a lot less chickens.
1 comments:
Well said.
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