What are your motives behind purchasing “fee range” eggs?

Is it to ensure you are getting the best quality egg’s for you and your family? Or is it for peace of mind that you are improving the chickens quality of life?

It’s shocking to know that according The Humane Society of The United States there is no solid definition that regulates the labeling of eggs as “free range.” When labeling eggs as “free range” company’s are not held accountable for how they treat their hens and the conditions that they provide them with. “Free range” is supposed to mean access to the outdoors, which the hens are not necessarily provided, and when given access to the outdoors there are no regulations as to for how long they are given the access, or as to the quality of the outdoors the hens are given. Piper Hoffman explains that although called “free range” the hens are still forced into horrible living conditions where they do not have the ability to perform natural behaviors like nesting, and companies are still allowed to perform painful mutilations such as debeaking; the hens are forced to live with thousands of others in huge warehouses were they are kept in darkness, never seeing the light of day.

Thousands of hens crammed into large warehouses
(http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/ar-human-14chicks.html)

Companies are then allowed to market these eggs as “free range,” allowing them to charge a much higher price knowing consumers will believe they are making a difference in the fight against animal cruelty. I believe that the government should intervene and introduce a more strict set of laws and regulations that ensure when companies advertise “free range” they are held accountable to chickens quality of life and living standards.

Without new government regulation companies will continue manipulate consumers all over the world by taking advantage of the currently loose definition of “free range.”