Maral Cavner, an Emory University graduate focused on animal law, aims to highlight animal rights issues. The document discusses the confusing nature of egg carton labels in the U.S., where terms like 'cage-free' and 'free-range' lack official definitions. It explains that cage-free chickens are still confined indoors, while free-range chickens have limited outdoor access, contradicting consumer perceptions of humane treatment.

1. Maral Cavner

2.  Emory University graduate Maral Cavner, pursuing
a career in animal law, is dedicated to protecting
the legal interests of animals worldwide. Maral
Cavner works to bring salient animal rights issues
into the public eye.
Consumers are often confused by the vague and
sometimes misleading labels found on egg
cartons. While the U.S. government does regulate
the “Certified Organic” label, distinctions like cage-
free and free-range are not defined or governed in
any official way.

3.  The cage-free nomenclature simply means that
chickens do not live in cages. They are still confined to
a warehouse-like building, usually with 100,000 other
birds. These animals do not have access to the
outdoors, and they are almost always subjected to
such industry practices as beak cutting and starvation
in order to force molting.
Free-range chickens are not kept in cages, and they
have some access to the outdoors. This does not
mean that they live outside or roam around in grassy
fields. Typical outdoor access for free-range chickens
consists of a small screen-enclosed porch, which an
individual bird may never get to visit.