When I got to Germany in 2004, most eggs for sale were category 3: cage-raised Now, category 3 is illegal, and the cheap eggs are category 2: barn-raised (not

When I got to Germany in 2004, most eggs for sale were category 3: cage-raised Now, category 3 is illegal, and the cheap eggs are category 2: barn-raised (not way better, but at least they can walk about) This did not happen because egg producers or the agricultural regulatory agencies felt bad about how they were keeping their chickens, but because enough of the public who cared pushed the government to make category 3 eggs illegal - and the only reason they had that whole categories thing to begin with was enough of the public who cared. I usually buy category 1 eggs (free-range, for some minimal value of free range) from small local producers here - I don't care what the chickens ate because the chickens don't really care what they eat, but I'll buy category 0 (free-range, organic feed) if category 1 isn't available.