Free Range

We had a Swiss chard frittata and caprese salad (all but the eggs, cheese, and olive oil from our garden and CSA share) for dinner tonight, and the question of “free range” came up because J. had purchased a dozen free range eggs at the store this afternoon. I commented on my suspicion of the term “free range.” It conjures the image of chickens bobbing around a barnyard, pecking at grubs and insects, clucking happy thoughts, living a full life of pullet idyll. But my natural cynicism led me to think that it meant nothing more than the chickens weren’t cooped up in cages for their whole short lives, pecking at each other and praying in their limited consciousness to be axed as soon as possible, please. So J. asked me to look up what “free range” meant with our particular eggs, Sarboe Farms, and this is what I found:
First, according to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, the complete designation of “free range” is simple:

FREE RANGE or FREE ROAMING:
Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.

So open a door a few minutes to any random outdoor space, and you’ve got your “free range” poultry, whether the chickens choose to go out or not. And here’s the “free range” facility where our eggs came from:

Don’t see many chickens freely ranging or roaming around these grounds.

Related to “free range” food is “organic.” And again it’s not as pure as the label on the package might lead one to believe. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration:

--Products labeled "100 percent organic" must contain only organically
produced materials.
--Products labeled "organic" must contain at least 95 percent organic
ingredients.
--Products that contain between 70 arid 95 percent organic ingredients
may use the phrase "made with organic ingredients" on the label and
may list up to three of the organic ingredients (e .g ., carrots) or food
groups (e .g ., vegetables) on the principal display area .
--Products with less than 70 percent organic ingredients may not use
the term organic other than to identify specific organic ingredients.

So food can be labeled “free range” and “organic” if it is allowed at least a chance to see the sunlight for a few minutes a day and contains no more than 5% inorganic chemicals (or “made with organic ingredients” if made with up to 30% inorganic materials).

We should all be comforted by our government’s regulations.