#5:Cage-Free Eggs

It is important as a consumer to be able to decipher what exactly you are receiving when buying food in a grocery store without a large amount of reading or googling to find information. That is where simple labeling, on eggs for example, such as, cage free, organic, free range, or pasture raised. These labels could mean many different things to different people depending on their experience  and knowledge of agriculture and farming. There also exists the issue of some of these terms not even being defined or regulated by government facilities such as the USDA or the FDA. This lack of regulation leads to private organizations with proper funding and strength to create the rules and regulations for farms that they can control. Before conducting my research into cage free I had very little knowledge of the chicken industry, however, I do have a background in agriculture and had an expectation of what cage free would mean. I expected it to be that the chickens were able to roost and clean and lay eggs with their own space. I learned from the Humane Society website that on average it means that the chickens have about one and a quarter square feet of space, have access to roost and clean and have either natural daylight access or be able to go outside. It is interesting to notice that while these chickens are “cage free” they still could be confined to a small space shoved in with many other hens without access to range on their own outside. The term “cage free” could be misleading in my opinion as those without much knowledge of agriculture or farming could be mislead to believe that it is more freedom for the hens than actually exists. (WC:293)