NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — If you've bought eggs recently, you may have experienced sticker shock as egg prices have jumped some 60 percent in the last year.
If you're trying to save money, it's important to pay attention to which eggs you're buying.
Today shoppers are faced with dozens of options at different prices: Cage-free, free-range, organic and more.
But what does it all mean, and is it worth paying more for any of them?
“A lot of these terms on egg cartons don’t really have any defined meaning, and if you’re going to pay a premium price for eggs you want to make sure you’re getting what you think you’re getting,” said Consumer Reports Trisha Calvo.
Let’s start off with labels you can ignore - like “farm fresh,” “natural,” and “no hormones.”
“All eggs are from farms, and all eggs are natural, so “farm fresh” and “natural” really has no clear meaning. And by law, chickens can’t be given hormones. So a carton of eggs that have these claims isn’t really any different from a carton that doesn’t,” Calvo explained.
“Cage free” is another misleading label. While it’s true the hens aren’t kept in cages, they can still be kept indoors, often in crowded conditions. The “free range” label is also dubious.
“Free-range birds aren’t kept in cages and they do have outdoor access - but they can still be raised in crowded conditions and the outdoor area can be very tiny,” she added.
If the eggs have an “organic,” seal, it means the eggs were laid by hens fed grains grown without most synthetic pesticides or GMOs. The birds cannot be raised in cages and must have outdoor access - though that could still mean confined conditions in a building with just a small concrete porch.
Pasture-raised on its own isn’t meaningful. But if it’s paired with the Certified Humane label, you can be sure the chickens had access to a pasture with space to do chicken-things like pecking for seeds and bugs.
So, if buying eggs from healthier hens who were raised in more humane conditions is important to you, choose pasture-raised but be prepared to pay more, well over $5 per dozen.
