What do the labels on egg boxes mean

A.� There is a huge variety of eggs on the supermarket shelves.

Farm Fresh: unless an egg box is labelled organic, free-range or barn produced, you're buying battery eggs. Up to 88 per cent of the UK egg market is supplied by battery houses containing up to 100,000 birds. Farm fresh has no legal meaning unless it clearly states where the eggs were laid.

Barn: though some barns have windows to let in daylight and the birds are free to fly around, barn hens, like battery ones, are kept indoors for their entire lives. Conditions are often over-croweded and routine de-beaking to prevent aggression is common.

Freedom Food: these are sold with a guarantee from the RSPCA that hens have been humanely reared. However, hens can still be kept in barns and have their beaks clipped. Yolk dyes and antibiotics are permitted in their feed. RSPCA inspectors regularly check the farms.

Free Range: the birds have better living standards than battery hens. Though they are kept in a barn, they must have daytime access to open air runs in vegetation for half of their lives. Not more than 1,000 hens can occupy a hectare of space, which ensures they have more freedom than battery hens. However the term free range disguises less desirable practices. It does not prevent the addition of yolk dyes or antibiotics, nor does it determine what type of food the hens are given. Free range hens often have their beaks cut, which prevents them from pecking food outside, and the legal minimum indoor space for each hen is just 29cm by 19cm.

Organic: eggs with an organic certification such as Soil Association logo guarantee the highest levels of animal welfare. Debeaking is banned, hens have continual access to outdoor space and the pasture on which they feed is rested every three years to prevent the build-up of parasites. Flock size must not exceed 500 to prevent unnecessary stress, and at least 70 per cent of the diet must be from organic sources - animal protein, yolk dyes, antibiotics and other additives are not permitted.

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Q.� Is is safe to eat eggs

A.� In 1988, the then Health Minister Edwina Currie commented on salmonella bacteria in eggs - sales plummeted by 60 per cent. Only one in 7,000 eggs is thought to harbour salmonella, but the Department of Health advises pregnant women, children and the elderly to eat only hard-boiled. An inquiry by the Ministry of Agriculture into salmonella found that the risk of food poisoning is dependent on individual immune systems. Even so, a new process to pasteurise eggs to remove all risks of food poisoning is in development.

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Q.� How much cholestrol do eggs contain

A,� A single egg yolk contains 448mg cholestrol, above the average intake of 390mg for men and 290mg for women. Nutritionists say the cholestrol content of eggs is not as potentially harmful as their saturated fat content. An average egg has 80 calories and contains 5g to 7g fat, in the yolk, of which less than 2g is the more harmful, saturated variety. The British Heart Foundation advises no more than four eggs a week, while the World Health Organisation suggest an upper weekly limit of 10 eggs from all sources including cakes, mayonnaise and biscuits.

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by Katharine MacColl