Look for pasture-raised eggs from hens fed with certified-organic feed to get the healthiest egg option.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—In light of egg and other food recalls, you're probably checking your egg cartons more carefully, or at least you should be. The big 2010 egg recall pointed back to an egg producer in Iowa with a history of cruel production practices and violations. But did you know that 95 percent of eggs in this country come from hens confined to cages so tiny they can't even spread their wings? And scientists have found that these factory-farm conditions cause the risk of salmonella to skyrocket. A 2010 study published in the journal Veterinary Record found that the eggs of cage-raised hens had a 7.77 times greater odds of harboring Salmonella bacteria than eggs from non-caged hens. A 2008 Belgium study published in Preventive Veterinary Medicine found a whopping 7.88 to 21.52 times greater odds of Salmonella contamination in operations that caged hens. If this country is ready to have a serious food-safety discussion, phasing out cages for laying hens would certainly be a good place to start (some states, such as California, Michigan, and Ohio, are already working on that). If cheap, caged eggs freak you out—as they should—you're likely looking at egg carton labels more closely to find healthier, more humane eggs. Read on to learn about the different meanings behind the claims made on those labels.

Here's how to make sense of the different egg labels: "Cage-Free" "Free-Range or "Free-Roaming" "Organic" "Natural" "Pastured" "Omega-3 Enriched" "Animal Welfare Approved" "Certified Humane" "United Egg Producers Certified"