Food concerns include animal welfare

From low in sodium to high in fiber, food claims can help guide us to healthier choices to treat our bodies better. However, more consumers are looking for labels that indicate how the animals that produced that food were treated.

“They’re looking for attributes of food beyond nutrition,” said registered dietitian nutritionist Karen Buch, who works as a consultant with the retail grocery business. “Consumers care about sustainability, farm workers and animal welfare.”

There’s a growing glossary of terms that indicate animal welfare practices. Some are clearly defined by the federal government. Some, according to the Humane Society, are designations with no relevance to animal welfare, including vegetarian-fed, natural and farm fresh.

“It’s not always what it seems. You have to be careful how you interpret these words,” said registered dietitian Bonnie Taub-Dix, author of “Read It Before You Eat It.”

When you see “raised without hormones” on a package of chicken, you should know that hormones are not even allowed. U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations prohibit the use of hormones in the production of all poultry.

The term “antibiotic-free” is not approved for use by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, because all meats are required to be free of antibiotic residue. However, “raised without antibiotics” is approved and indicates no antibiotics were used for the prevention or treatment of disease.

Decoding other claims

Cage-free: Chickens are uncaged and can roam inside. "They can walk around, lay their eggs in a nest and spread their wings," said registered dietitian Kathleen Zelman, who is an adviser to the Egg Nutrition Center.

Free-range: Hens are cage-free and have some access to the outdoors. "The size of the access door and space outdoors varies," Zelman said.

Pasture-raised: Hens are raised outdoors, where they can forage, with access to a barn. "As such, they eat worms, insects and grass, along with feed," Zelman said. The USDA has no definition for pasture-raised.

Vegetarian-fed: Only vegetarian feed is used. The birds are kept indoors, so they can't eat grubs, worms or bugs. "So, by definition, you can't have a vegetarian-fed chicken that's also free-range," Taub-Dix said.