Choice lays out a free range egg buying guide based on form production methods meeting the free range model.
How free range are your eggs?
It's not easy to find 'real' free range eggs.
In 2017 the government introduced a free range egg standard that fails consumers. The standard allows producers to pack 10,000 hens into a hectare with no mandate for hens to actually spend time outdoors. This is entirely in contrast to consumers' expectations for free range eggs and the CSIRO's Model Code of Practice, which says there should be a maximum of 1500 hens per hectare on an outdoor range.
Listed via the link above are free range egg brands that meet the Model Code. This guide is based on self-declarations of maximum outdoor stocking density, provided to us either directly by egg producers or via claims on their packaging and advertising material.
