"Story Of An Egg": Difference Between 'Cage-Free', 'Free-Range', and 'Pastured' Eggs

www.huffingtonpost.com - March 22nd, 2013

Cage-free eggs are pretty commonplace on supermarket shelves. But if you imagine they must come from a bunch of chickens roaming around the farmyard politely clucking, you're sadly mistaken.

The definition for "cage-free" is quite literal: All it means is that the hens aren't kept in cages. It doesn't mean they're treated well. They can still be cooped up in large industrial chicken houses with no room to walk around.

Think "free-range" is any better? In order for chicken to be labeled as "free-range," they must have access to the outdoors. But that outside space doesn't need to be very big.

Not all cage-free eggs come from hens confined to small quarters, however, nor are all free-range chickens cooped up. 

"The Story of an Egg," one of 25 short films nominated in the PBS Online Film Festival, speaks to several farmers who raise chickens with plenty of space to roam free. And they don't have particularly kind things to say about farmers who do otherwise.

Which isn't surprising given the conditions caged chickens can suffer: Some are even debeaked so they don't peck each other.

Take a look at "The Story of an Egg" :

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The Cruelest of All Factory Farm Products: Eggs From Caged Hens

www.huffingtonpost.com - January 29th, 2013

Battery cages are small wire cages where about 95 percent of laying hens spend their entire lives; each hen is given about 67-76 square inches of space (a standard sheet of paper measures 94 square inches). To get a sense of a hen's life in a battery cage, imagine spending your entire life in a wire cage the size of your bathtub with four other people. You wouldn't be able to move, so your muscles and bones would deteriorate. Your feet would become lacerated. You would go insane. That's precisely what happens to laying hens.

In the United States, roughly nine billion chickens, pigs and other farm animals are consumed annually, and the vast majority of them are abused in ways that would warrant felony cruelty to animals charges were dogs or cats the victims. But three systems are particularly cruel -- gestation crates for pregnant pigs, veal crates for calves, and battery cages for laying hens. As of Jan. 1, all three are illegal across Europe, and it is past time for the United States and Canada to follow suit.

After decades of consumer outcry, the veal industry recently took the important step of announcing that it will work toward eliminating the crate confinement of calves. And as discussed previously, gestation crates may also be headed for the dust bin of history. While this is positive news for pigs and calves, there is currently no clear end in sight for battery cages, with roughly 95 percent of all eggs in the U.S. still coming from caged hens. There are roughly 4.5 million mother pigs and fewer than 500,000 calves in crates, and approximately 250 million hens in battery cages. So for every caged calf or pig, there are roughly 50 caged hens.

Barren battery cages are so hideously cruel that in addition to having been outlawed across the European Union, they have been condemned by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, which included former Kansas governor John Carlin, former Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman (who also chaired the House Agriculture committee), as well as farmers and ranchers. They're also condemned by every animal protection group in the world.

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Baked Stuffed Chicken in Roasted Tomato Sauce

Stuffing:

2 cups stale sourdough bread, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 cup Kalamata olives, chopped
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped

4 celery sticks with leaves, chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

3 tablespoons capers

Handful fresh Italian Parsley, chopped

Extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper

In a large deep sided skillet on medium heat, cover the bottom with olive oil. When hot, add onions, garlic, and celery. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Saute until soft (about 10 minutes). Add bread, capers, and fresh herbs. Stir to combine. Drizzle olive oil generously over the top and turn heat off. If the stuffing appears too dry, drizzle with more olive oil.

Chicken:

8 boneless chicken thighs

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup shredded fresh mozzarella cheese (optional)

Sea Salt and black pepper

Drizzle extra virgin olive oil generously over the chicken (both sides). Season well with salt and black pepper. Lay chicken thighs skin side down flat on a working surface and add one tablespoon of the stuffing to side and fold the empty side over.

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Cover the bottom of a large baking dish with roasted tomato sauce of your choice. Add chicken thighs. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Bake uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes or until cooked.