"Free Range vs. Cage Free" or "What ever happened to truth in advertising?"

Turns out though that the (all too typical American marketing) term of art is "Cage Free." I guess. I mean there aren't any cages in there. Though I can't really imagine a less humane way to contain animals.

This photo appeared front and center of NYT's homepage two days ago. The article is called Suddenly the Hunt is On for Cage Free Eggs. The picture is dramatic and seems to cry out for some commentary on whether eggs from this particular hen-house can seriously qualify as "cage-free," and while we're at it, whether the distinction between "cage free" and "free range" can honestly be expected (by policy-makers and industry giants) to be made by the average consumer. It seems just one more example of diabolical marketing genius designed to mislead without being untrue in the literal sense. Which is typical and often accepted in the political and commercial contexts - but when the health and comfort of living things is in the balance, this genius seems misplaced and cruel.

The first half of the article leaves the animal-rights inclined reader feeling cold as it addresses the wisdom of cage-free operations from a financial standpoint and the frustration of various Cage Free consumers at not being able to find enough product to fill demand. The futility of such complaints glares at the frustrated reader throughout.

The Vermont ice cream maker Ben and Jerry’s got plenty of attention last September when it became the first major food manufacturer to announce it would use only cage-free eggs that have been certified humane by an inspecting organization. But the company says it will need four years to complete the switch.

“It’s not easy to find all the eggs you’re looking for,” said Rob Michalak, a spokesman for Ben and Jerry’s. “The marketplace is one where the supply needs to increase with the demand.”

At Whole Foods, shoppers have no trouble finding cage-free eggs, which are the company’s minimum standard. But there are not always enough for the Whole Foods bakeries and kitchens, which have used only cage-free eggs since 2005, said Perry Abbenante, the company’s national grocery coordinator. Whole Foods sometimes has to scale back the amount of prepared food and baked goods it makes.

“There is a lot of talk about cage-free, but are people actually buying them?” said Gene Gregory, president of the United Egg Producers. “I think the consumer walking into the grocery store sees cage-free and they cost two or three times more, and they don’t buy them.”

It takes about six months to build a cage-free operation from the ground up, including raising the chicks, said John Brunnquell, who owns Egg Innovations, based in Port Washington, Wis. The cost for a well-designed facility is about $30 a bird. Building a conventional operation with the stacks of cages known as batteries costs about $8 a bird, he said.

Converting to a cage-free operation can cost less than building anew, but it can still mean the loss of several months’ income and the complexities that come with new methods.

The second half gets more to the points I mentioned above, though still with the inevitable undertones of economics.

The eggs can cost an extra 60 cents a dozen on the wholesale market. But most chicken farmers are not ripping out cages and retrofitting their barns. They question whether the birds are really better off, saying that keeping thousands of hens in tight quarters on the floor of a building can lead to hunger, disease and cannibalism. They also say that converting requires time, money and faith that the spike in demand is not just a fad.

Officials at Notre Dame turned down a request by a campus animal rights group to switch to cage-free eggs after investigating the issue for six months.

The university, which serves 16,000 meals a day in its dining halls, visited both cage and cage-free operations, examining animal welfare, food safety, environmental impact, taste and other issues. Both operations they toured appeared to take equally good care of their chickens, said Jocie Antonelli, nutrition and safety manager.

The university decided that its current source of eggs, which uses a cage system, had the edge in food safety.

Eggs labeled organic and free-range come from chickens with access to the outdoors. But most cage-free chickens never peck in a barnyard during their lives, which last from 12 to 18 months. The term “cage free” is lightly regulated. Companies get approval to use it on their labels through the Food Safety Inspection Service of the Agriculture Department, which does not actually inspect laying operations.

“There are pros and cons to each system,” Ms. Antonelli said. “Either way, these are not free-roaming chickens living out in a pasture.”

Emphasis added in the bolded paragraph to note that in the animal industry, meat is a byproduct of such operations as egg and dairy production and that vegetarianism, though I am loathe to admit it, does not do all the work that one would hope. In the extreme example that meat is outlawed, the animals will still be raised and subjected to inhumane conditions, perhaps for longer periods of time.

Some insist that progress has been made:

“While cage-free certainly does not mean cruelty-free, it’s a significant step in the right direction,” said Paul Shapiro of the Humane Society.

I think this is true to the extent that anytime consumer protests can make enough noise to change offensive business practices, it is a step in the right direction, businesses and consumers take notice and apathy and inertia are abated. However, if you're a hen, it's hard to see that any real change has taken place.

Skepticism aside, I like this article because it exposes an important point - the incidence of companies like Whole Foods and Burger King switching to "Cage-Free" eggs and publicly complaining that supply is not meeting demand does not, in itself, mark a meaningful shift in corporate responsibility but rather the achievement of suckering consumers and paying deceptive lip service to animal rights groups. It is not what we asked for, "Cage-Free" is a trick of the trade and this article demonstrates the importance of consumer education. That in itself is a step in the right direction.