Back in 2007, FDA issued a rule to address the problem with laying hens carrying salmonella and passing it into their eggs. Under that rule, farms with more than 3,000 hens must take extensive steps to address the risk of salmonella contamination, including testing both the birds and the hen houses. Thanks to this mandatory testing, FDA now has several years of data on where salmonella has occurred-yet its new guidance document doesn't refer to any cases of salmonella being connected to hens having access to pasture.

Hens that spend time outdoors in the sunlight, eating plants and insects, are healthier than hens crammed closely together inside a building. Informal testing has also shown that eggs from pastured hens are more nutritious than eggs from hens kept indoors and raised exclusively on grain.

But FDA's draft guidance document creates new burdens specifically for farmers who allow their hens to have access to pasture. Despite the lack of evidence, FDA assumes that exposure to any wild animal creates a health risk, and that farmers should have to somehow keep their hens away from wild birds and other creatures.

The FDA guidance document suggests that farmers must cover their outdoor pastures with either roofing or netting, or use noise cannons to scare away wild birds. Of course, roofing a pasture is not only cost-prohibitive, but would also prevent sun and rain from reaching the plants and animals in the pasture, defeating the whole purpose of having pastured hens. And the noise cannons that would scare away wild birds would also scare the laying hens.

FDA, as usual, is favoring the mainstream industry practices. Although eggs labeled "organic" must allow birds outdoor access, the large-scale industrial operations simply connect small "porches" to their facilities and claim that this is enough. FDA's guidance document gives the green light to this substandard process, while penalizing the producers who seek to provide true access to pasture.