Lately the choices are complex: Omega-3? Free-range? Organic? A University of Sydney study recently suggested that free-range chickens experience just as much stress as those in battery cages, mainly from fear of predators. Between animal welfare, price disparities and taste preferences, how can you tell what is a good egg these days?

300

Number of eggs that can be produced in one to two years by a hen kept in a battery cage, which has a wire floor and is about the size of a sheet of paper. The natural amount would be closer to 18 or 20. Once the hens are considered spent, they are transported to a plant where they are made into animal feed or compost, chicken pot pies, soup or other chicken byproducts.

2012

The year by which the European Union, the world's second-largest producer of eggs, will ban battery

cages.

1 to 2

Number of square feet of floor space allotted for each free-range hen, which is also given access to the outdoors. The University of Sydney researchers found similar corticosterone levels (a hormone that indicates stress) in free-range and battery hens.

Source: TheGlobeAndMail