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rachelvoorhees, Flickr
"Free range" is a loose classification applied to meat, eggs, or dairy farming that refers to an animal that has been allowed to roam free. Free range animals are often referred to as "humanely raised."The US Department of Agriculture requires that free range chickens raised for meat must have access to the outdoors. When applied to eggs, the free range label has not been regulated in the US, so some eggs offered as free range will have been laid by chickens raised in high density confinement, which is antithetical to the humanely raised free range concept.
In the EU there is stricter regulation of labeling. Chicken eggs may be—in descending order of quality and humane husbandry—"Organic," "Free Range," "Barn," or "Cage." The difference between "Organic" and "Free Range" in the EU classification relates to better quality conditions and feed for organic hens and eggs. "Free range" may be fed the same animal byproducts and GMO crops as in factory farming.
When applied to cows, lambs, or pigs, "free range," "pasture raised," and "free roaming" are used interchangeably and usually refer to livestock that have spent at least eighty percent of their life-cycle outdoors. There are no regulatory mechanisms in place to assure compliance with standards.
Eggs from hens that are raised in pasture are nutritionally superior to eggs from those raised in confinement according to Mother Earth News. They contain
• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene
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