Food, Inc Continued

A couple of weeks ago I was very excited to get better quality chicken on sale. I bought many packages to freeze, which I still intend to use. As I was making my chicken last night, proud of my purchase, a lightbulb went off in my head. My lightbulb is one of those that flickers a bunch before actually turning on :) Anyways, I decided to look at the wording on the package which says cage free and my lightbulb turned on. The chickens I saw in the movie were cage free, but they were still piled 5 high in a barn with no windows. I decided to do some investigating (what I do best). I found a really informative sight that defines those labels we see on packages. The sight is: http://www.nakedfoodcooking.com/truth-isfree-range-eggs-healthier-store-bought-eggs/

This is what it states:

Conventional (i.e., no special label) – Typically less than half a square foot of space per hen, giving not even enough room to spread their wings.

Cage Free – As it says, the hens are able to move about inside a barn without being confined to cages. A better life, but not optimal as parts of beaks are often burned to prevent pecking at themselves and others (a sign of distress, by the way).

Free Range – Implies chickens on lush green pastures. Actually is not a regulated term for eggs so this can be used by absolutely anyone. Really all that’s needed is a door to the outside that gives the chickens “access” to an outdoor area, whether they actually use it or not. This is a meaningless term.

Organic – This means the hens were fed organic feed, whatever that feed consists of. I think it also means no animal by-products in the feed.

Vegetarian – The hen is fed a vegetarian feed. I only mention this to point out that chickens are omnivores, not vegetarians, and will naturally eat bugs, grubs, etc. This term is used to imply “healthier” in our anti-meat culture.

What I learned is that if you want naturally raised chickens, then you should look for the label to say "pastured." This means that the chickens were raised on pasture, with access to the sun, grass, bugs, and possibly supplemented with grains and other feed. Ta da. I found what I was looking for. Well it's never that easy. I need to go to some health food markets to see if they sell this, but the websites point to no. ARRGGG. I did find a farm about 4 hours away that sells the meat individually (by desired part, not the whole or half of an animal) and they make a delivery to Tampa once a month where I could meet the truck to pick up my order for the month. While this is WAY more work than walking a few steps to the closest supermarket, I will consider it. I was at least glad to learn that the labels that appear to be better products really are not and therefor not worth the extra money.