What do Egg labels mean?

Truly free-ranged, pastured chickens for healthy eggs

As the daylight hours steadily increase, our flock of hens have begun laying again! As I have collected and washed eggs these past few weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about those magical bundles of nutrients. Collecting eggs from our happy little hens every morning is a family chore that we are grateful to have and pastured-eggs are a staple food product we feel lucky to provide to our community.

As much as I try to produce everything for my family on the farm, I do still have to visit the grocery store from time to time. As I pass by the egg section, I often wonder what all the labels really mean. The way food labeling works in Canada, how are you supposed to know what you’re really  buying? Food labeling in Canada is unfortunately not the most trustworthy source of information. The egg industry is a good example of this seriously confusing problem that we as consumers are facing. Labels like “cage-free”, “free-range”, or “pasture-raised” are unregulated in Canada, meaning that there is no independent inspection of companies using this label to ensure that their hens are really raised according to the terms used. I thought it would be useful to write this little guide on what these egg labels mean here in Canada specifically, so let’s take a closer look.

We’ll start with Cage-Free eggs.

Cage-free means that hens are not raised in “battery” cages. Battery cages are small metal wire cages of approximately 16” by 18” that are arranged in rows and stacked on top of each other. Sadly, these cages are the standard for conventional eggs. “Free-Run” goes a small step further by claiming that the hens are kept in open barns, uncaged. Under both labels, the hens are still likely raised in very crowded conditions and do not ever have access to the outdoors. As well, this term means nothing about what kind of feed and medications they may be given.

Free-range is a label that is very popular right now and while it is usually better than cage free, it is not necessarily the chicken paradise it sounds like. Free-range simply claims that the hens are raised in open barns, without cages, and have access to the outdoors. Again, free-range, cage-free, and free-run are all unregulated, so when you’re standing in the grocery store picking which eggs to buy, there is no real way for you to know just by these terms whether the hens were raised ethically.

What about organic?

A label that is regulated and certified is the organic label. If you see eggs that are certified organic, it means that all of the hens’ feed must be certified organic and they must be raised in free range barns where they are required to have some access to the outdoors. Another common label is “farm fresh”. Farm fresh implies that eggs were distributed directly from the farm to the store but says nothing about how the hens were raised or what they ate. Unfortunately the name “farm” or “family farm” is often used in egg labeling to conjure certain ideas about the scale or animal welfare of the farms, instead of trying to convey any actual facts about the egg’s source.

Cheeky Creek Farm Eggs

So what about our eggs? Since we sell our eggs directly to our customers, we don’t need to use labels as a substitute for trust and communication. We believe the best way to know where your food comes from is to buy directly from your farmer so you can see for yourself how your meat and eggs are raised. As you can see on our farm tour days, when you come shop at our farm store, or when you visit our website and social media, we raise happy and healthy hens. All our hens live in a mobile chicken coop that moves around our farm regularly so that our little ladies have fresh grass, bugs, and new terrain to keep them entertained. We let them out of the coop every morning to explore the pasture and they come back in on their own every night. We feed them non-GMO grain and never any medication. 

You can buy our eggs on our website to be delivered to your home, or in-person at our farm store Thursdays and Fridays 4pm-7pm and Sundays 11am-4pm. Our pasture-raised eggs stay fresh for a whole month in the fridge, so there’s no need to come to the farm every week. You can stock up on truly farm fresh eggs every month or have them delivered!