“Cage Free Chickens”
I was at Trader Joe’s and needed to buy eggs. I grabbed a box and threw it in my cart, noticing that the eggs were from “cage free” hens. With visions of happy chickens running around a sunny field I wandered off to find some butter. It wasn’t until I opened the carton to make breakfast that I saw this:

“Did you know the eggs in this carton are Cage Free Eggs? That’s right. The hens that lay these eggs are raised on a family-owned farm here in the Pacific Northwest, where they are free to roam at will in environmentally controlled houses that protect them from both predators and the elements. These hens are fed a completely vegetarian diet and are never given steroids, hormones or stimulants of any kind. The hen’s diet and quality of life result in delicious, nutritious eggs you’ll find only at your neighborhood Trader Joe’s in the Pacific Northwest.”

This statement is a great example of why you need to be careful, maybe even more careful, when shopping at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s than at the regular supermarket. These stores have spent a lot of marketing dollars fostering their image as sellers of healthy food, the problem is they are just as guilty of sloganeering, using buzzwords and marketing hype as any Kroger store.

Cage Free
As it did for me it took me to a happy field of flowers, sunshine juicy bugs to eat and safety. Not really. The fact that the cage is an “environmentally controlled house” means they are still in a cage, it’s just big enough to walk around in. That’s better, but it’s not the image they are marketing. When buying eggs or chickens the phrase you are looking for is pastured, I’ll explain why in a second.

Protect them from the elements
This could be a good or bad thing. In an environmentally controlled house-cage the hens are not outside where they would prefer to be breathing fresh air. I’m only guessing, but I doubt these are retractable roof house-cages so that the hens see the sunshine either.

Vegetarians?
That’s a great marketing ploy. What I have found is that marketing hens as vegetarians is a way of telling us that they weren’t fed animal by-products. That’s a good thing, except that chickens are not vegetarians and naturally eat insects, grubs and worms. That’s why pastured chickens are superior; they have not been denied the natural diet of that creates healthy, omnivore chickens. Eggs can’t be of better quality than the chicken that lays them.

Quality of life
This is important and why I might recommend these eggs over industrial farmed eggs. The quality of life of the animals we depend on for food is extremely important. The closer to a natural diet and environment our dinner comes from the healthier it will be.

I shop at TJ’s and will continue to do so, but I will keep in mind that marketing extends to even the healthiest foods. I have no problem with marketing; I just need to be an informed consumer so I know what I am really buying, not what they want me to think I’m buying.

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