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Pasture-Raised vs Free-Range vs Cage-Free Eggs: What the Carton Really Means

Audio from the Clean Food Score video of the same name; the video shows the labels and scores on screen.

Cage-free and free-range have loose USDA definitions, and pasture-raised has none at all. We decode every carton word, the Certified Humane 108 sq ft rule, what organic adds, how to read omega-3 and feed claims, and real Vital Farms cartons with their Clean Food Score label scores (as of October 2026).

Full guide and the products we checked
Check any ingredient list free

Chapters
0:00 The Short Answer
0:38 Three Words, Three Rules
1:18 Pasture-Raised Has No Rulebook
1:53 The Hundred and Eight Square Feet Rule
2:40 Organic Is a Separate Claim
3:18 Feed and Omega-Three Claims
4:17 Words That Mean Little
4:56 Grades Aren't Farming Claims
5:24 How Our Score Treats Pasture-Raised
6:08 Real Cartons, Real Scores
7:06 Finding Them Near You
7:40 Your Turn

Product scores are Clean Food Score's 0–100 label scores as shown on cleanfoodscore.com on 2026-10-16. Recipes change, so read the package you buy. We read labels; this is not medical advice.

Music
"Fresh Air" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Reminiscing" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Friday Morning" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Carefree" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Sound effects: Kenney (kenney.nl), CC0.

#pastureraisedeggs #eggs #foodlabels