What pasture-raised means on an egg box

A box of eggs carries a few words about how the hens lived. Some of those words are set by law. Others come from schemes that farms choose to join, and each scheme writes its own standards.

The farming methods a box can name

The UK's egg marketing rules say a pack of Class A eggs must show the farming method on the outside. They also say which words may be used for it.

For conventional farming, the rules allow three terms: "Free range eggs", "Barn eggs" and "Eggs from caged hens". Each one may be used only if the hens were kept to that method's conditions. Organic eggs use the terms set by the organic rules.

The rules state that "only the following terms shall be used" to identify the farming method. The words "pasture-raised" do not appear on that list. A box of Class A eggs that says pasture-raised still has to name its farming method in one of the listed terms.

Reading the code on the shell

Each egg graded Class A is stamped with a producer code. Defra's guidance explains the single digit at its start. Organic eggs start with 0, free-range eggs with 1, barn eggs with 2, and the eggs of caged hens with 3.

After that digit come a code for the country and a number for the farm. The marketing rules also say the meaning of the code must be explained on the pack or inside it.

Eggs bought at a farm gate may have no stamp. Defra's guidance says no stamp is needed when the producer sells to people for their own use, either at the farm itself or door to door nearby.

What the law asks of free range

Under the free-range conditions, a farmer must give the hens "continuous daytime access to open-air runs". The rules let a farmer restrict that access for a limited period in the morning, in line with usual good farming practice.

Vegetation must cover most of each run. The runs may also be used as orchards or woodland, or for livestock grazing where the authorities allow it.

The limit is 2,500 hens for each hectare of ground the hens can use. Put another way, that is one hen to every 4 square metres, at all times. There is one exception for farms that rotate their ground. Where there are 10 square metres or more for every hen in all, and the hens get even access to the whole area over the flock's life, each paddock in use must give at least 2.5 square metres per hen.

Organic, RSPCA Assured and British Lion

The organic rules that apply in Great Britain give each laying hen 4 square metres outdoors, counted across the area used in rotation. That figure holds as long as the land does not take more than 170 kg of nitrogen per hectare a year.

The Soil Association sets further standards for the organic farms it certifies. Its page on organic eggs says a flock can be no bigger than 3,000 hens. It gives each hen a minimum of 10 square metres outside. Its hens get access to the outdoors from 12 weeks old, and the range is rested for at least 9 months between flocks.

The RSPCA says more than 800 of its welfare standards must be met before eggs can carry the RSPCA Assured label. Its hens live in barns with perches and nest boxes, or in free-range or organic systems with an outside range. Its standards ask for trees and bushes on the range, for shade and for shelter from bad weather and from predators such as foxes.

The British Lion mark comes from a code of practice run by the British Egg Industry Council. The council says the code sets food safety controls that go beyond current UK and EU law. They include vaccinating hens against two kinds of salmonella and stamping each egg on the farm with the farm code and the production method.

When hens have to stay inside

Rules made to protect public or animal health, such as those used during bird flu outbreaks, can stop hens going out onto their runs. In England, the free-range conditions now say eggs may still be sold as free range while that restriction lasts. This took effect on 23 January 2025.

Scotland changed its rule in November 2024, and Wales in February 2025. In both, eggs may still be sold as free range while access is temporarily restricted, and an earlier 16-week limit has been taken out.

The Soil Association lists housing orders during disease outbreaks among the exceptions to its own outdoor access rule. In Northern Ireland, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) enforces the egg marketing rules.

Questions for a farm that says pasture-raised

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