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Comment by user5994461 | Hacker News Reader

I've edited my message, the European standard is not that bad actually, 4 square meter per hen of external space.

Australian regulations seem to be a joke though.

It's still misleading in Sweden, even though we're in the EU. Here it's called "frigående" (free-walking, or free-range) which for hens just means that they are not kept in small cages. The free-range version with access to the outdoor is called "ecological" (16% of the hens).

When people buy eggs in Sweden from "free-walking" hens, they expect them to be outdoors in the sun, but instead they are kept indoors with a maximum of 9 hens per square meter and up to 10.000 hens in a barn.

It's not easy to find an English description of this, so here are some Swedish articles:

Wikipedia:

https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frig%C3%A5ende_djur

Swedish Egg, an organization from the egg industry:

https://www.svenskaagg.se/?p=19891&m=3959

Djurens Rätt, an animal rights group:

https://www.djurensratt.se/djur-i-livsmedelsindustrin/honor-...

This is interesting. The EU regulations include a table with what each grade can be called in different languages (p 24 of https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSL...). The grade called 'barn' in English can be called 'frigående inne' (free indoors) in Swedish. The English term 'free range' officially corresponds to 'frigående ute'.

In most of these languages, the term for barn eggs (hens indoors without cages) seems to refer to ground, soil, or scratching. Swedish seems to be an outlier in applying a word like 'free' to this grade.

In Finland none of the official terms uses "free" or equivalent, but barn eggs are still permitted to be branded "free hens' eggs" in marketing. So the "free" there doesn't mean "free range", just "non-caged". Myself, I just buy organic eggs these days.

I assume that "free indoors" is like keeping them in a massive warehouse where they can walk around, but with a other 9,999 animals around them. Technically they can walk around, realistically they can't make half a step before bumping to 10 other animals, and they poop all over, thus the needs for antibiotics. The "out in the open" is not happening for most farms.

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