Are Chicken Ark Eggs Free Range? Just What Are Organic And Free Range Eggs?
Posted on May 14, 2009 under Keeping chickens, chicken ark |
Britons are buying record numbers of Free Range, Barn and Organic Eggs. Research shows shoppers bought 2.04billion of them last year, up from 1.64billion in 2002 (Article from the Daily Mail - 09/08/2006).
With increasing media attention on battery chickens since then, most of the large supermarkets have moved to barn and free range eggs. Waitrose only sell barn and free range. Of course, if you’re keeping chickens at home, either letting them free range or keeping them in a chicken ark that you move around, then you have free range eggs.
if you keep your hens in hen houses with a run, your hens are not ranging free but if you look at the definition below they would count as free range. They may be organic too, if you provide organic food. The important thing about home grown eggs is that you control the conditions you keep your chickens in.
The Benefits of Eating Eggs
Eggs are low in calories and could actually protect against heart disease, breast cancer and eye problems and even help you to lose weight. Eggs are actually good for you. They are rich in nutrients, one egg provides 13 essential nutrients, all in the yolk (egg whites contain albumen, an important source of protein, and no fat). You should keep eggs in the fridge in their box and eat them by the use-by date.
We now know the benefits of eating eggs but does the welfare of the chickens matter?
Eggs are produced in 3 types of production systems.
1) Laying Cage System. Laying cages are the most common method of commercial egg production in the UK - representing around 66% of eggs produced in 2004.
Typically a laying cage system consists of a series of at least three tiers of cages. The cages have sloping mesh floors so that the eggs roll forward out of the reach of the birds to await collection. Droppings pass through the mesh floors onto boards, belts, the floors of the house or into a pit to await removal.
2) Barn system. Around 7% of eggs sold in the UK are produced in the barn system. In the barn system the hen house has a series of perches and feeders at different levels. In the deep litter system the birds are kept in hen houses in which all the floor area should be solid with a litter of straw, wood shavings, sand or turf.
3) Free range system. The free range system accounts for around 27% of eggs produced in the UK. And the Welfare of Laying Hens Directive stipulate that for eggs to be termed free range, hens must have continuous daytime access to runs which are mainly covered with vegetation and with a maximum stocking density of 2,500 birds per hectare. The demand for free-range eggs is also growing by 10 per cent a year. Somerfield will be the first supermarket in the country to switch to selling French free-range eggs. Tesco is also understood to be lining up suppliers on the Continent if it is not able to guarantee supplies at home due to this rising demand.
May 15th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Organic/free range eggs in plastic? Vegetarian Hypocracy?
My roommates are both vegetarians. One buys free range eggs which come in a plastic container and the other buys organic eggs which come in a Styrofoam container. Is it just me that finds this a little hypocritical? Isn't Styrofoam the least biodegradable thing in history?
On my way to school every day I walk by an organic goods store, the owner drives an SUV and always has these laminated fliers on his widow sill that end up blowing into the street.
Does this bother anybody else or is is just me? Anyone know any other vegans / vegetarians who do stuff like this?
May 15th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
i am a vegitarian, but i dont eat eggs, so yea. they are just liquid chickens.
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May 15th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
dude even the condition of freeroam chickens is horrible. They are still pack closely together on the ground or in a slightly bigger cage.
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that chickens raised for their meat have access to the outdoors in order to receive the free-range certification. Free-range chicken eggs, however, have no legal definition in the United States. Likewise, free-range egg producers have no common standard on what the term means. Many egg farmers sell their eggs as free range merely because their cages are 2 or 3 inches above average size, or there is a window in the shed"
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wikipedia and a food, science, folklore class
May 15th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
They are vegetarians.. what does that have to do with Styrofoam? you don't have to care about all of the environmental issues to be a vegetarian.
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May 15th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Just because I'm a vegetarian doesn't automatically mean I'm a card-carrying member of Greenpeace (or whatever it is!). I simply choose to not eat meat. One has nothing to do with the other. As far as eating organic, those who actively seek organic food are looking to put healthier food into their bodies (not all the chemicals and hormones, etc.). Again, totally separate from pollution and recycling issues. Hope this clarifies a bit.
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May 15th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
well, like anything in life, yes it seems hypocritical but sometimes you cant have your cake and eat it too- I buy free reange organic eggs but they come in recycled paper cartons.
If the plastic or styrofoam is the only kind of container they can get it in and the free range eggs are that important to them, then what choice do they have.
As for the other things, as the old saying goes, everyone can be bought. Everyone has their areas of what is important to them and where they will not compromise, but everyone is flesh and has areas , (even within the areas that are important) where they have little to no self control or are easily swayed, either by pride, how they want to appear to others, materialism , etc
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May 15th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Where did you get the idea that someone needn't try to improve their health or follow their conscience if they can't be perfect?
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May 15th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
We must all do our share to preserve this planet. Yes plastic and synthetic containairs are the most non biodegradable and the largest solid waste pollutant. Even the term "organic" is not always good. Farmers who burn leaves and remains of prior season and use the ashes as fertilizer are contributing to the destruction of ozone layer. I am a farmer and knows that going organic is not profitable and at present cannot feed the world. We must find a way to reach food security without the aid of chemicals. Or, let us hope that the human body will evolve that it will be immune to these chemicals (all organisms can do that).
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May 15th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
people often buy organic and free range eggs because they are healthier ( no dies and chemicals added) and they'r production method is much more humane for the chickens; animals that are particularly badly treated in the food production industry… it is not ideal to buy these products in wasteful harmful packaging but it is a whole lot better than caged hens eggs… the health food industry like most things has been absorbed into our consumer culture; thats why you get people who don't really care about the issues making alot of money and buying suv s… the alternative would be to find a local supplier of free range organic eggs that you can buy without the packaging… this would also cut out the harmful effects of transporting the eggs long distances…ideally you should find out if your organic food is locally sorced.
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