Free-Range Chickens

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has not yet established specific guidelines for labeling poultry products as free-range (aka cage-free, free-roaming) except to say the birds have access to the outdoors. Among farmers, the accepted description is that free-range chickens live unfenced and outside, weather-permitting. This is in stark contrast to the commercial poultry houses where thousands of birds spend their yearlong lives crammed in tiered shelters under artificial light.

Of course, when a chick is designated as either a layer or a broiler shortly after being hatched, how good can life really get?

No chickens are fed growth hormones.

That’s a favorite boast by supporters of free-range poultry products, but the truth is that growth hormones are banned from use for all poultry.

By meeting standards regarding diet and living environment, producers earn labels such as USDA Organic and the newer Certified Humane. Producers pay high fees for these labels, but the expense is justified by their ability to attract customers. According to a February 2007 article by The Associated Press, the relatively new promotion and certification of humane products has bolstered the $11 billion-per-year organic market.

What many people do note, however, is richer flavor in the meat and eggs of free-range chickens. Some organic lovers are lured by brown eggshells, imagining these eggs are more natural or nutritious than those with white shells, but shell color is simply determined by breed of bird.

The past few decades have seen quantum leaps in the humane treatment of animals.

Dr. Tro Bui, extension specialist in the Department of Animal Sciences at Cornell University, has observed farming industries for more than 30 years and says, “I’ve seen a change in the last 10 years. The way farmers of swine or chicken treat animals—they are humane. They don’t beat the pigs, they don’t chase the chickens. Farmers have been aware of the need to be humane, and they take care of their animals.” Certainly farmers have felt the strong arm of animal-rights activism. Witness the veal industry, which was undermined by awareness campaigns about the short lives of formula-fed calves.

There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of compassion circulating for chickens—it seems that only fish evoke less sympathy. Still, the success of the free-range poultry market is based on perception and conscience. It is dependent on consumers liking the idea that the meat on their plate or the egg in their pan came from a chicken that once frolicked happily in the sunshine.

Confused by health myths and misinformation? Each week, Rich Maloof talks to leading health experts to bring you the straight facts on a broad range of health topics.

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