Growing consumer interest in animal welfare could mean new organic standards. Here’s what you need to know.

In April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposed new Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices (OLPP) in an effort to “bring greater consistency and transparency” to the USDA organic standards. If the new rules are finalized, the Obama administration is poised to institute a set of long-awaited changes that could improve animal welfare in four areas of organic livestock and poultry practices, including living conditions, healthcare, transport, and slaughter.

But there’s no guarantee that the proposed rules will become law before the next administration takes over. Here’s what you need to know:

The rules would fix language full of loopholes.

Most of the current rules regarding animals on organic farms were written in the late 90s and put into effect back in 2001. The rules require “living conditions which accommodate the health and natural behavior or animals,” and “access for all animals to the outdoors, shade, shelter, exercise areas, fresh air, clean water for drinking, and direct sunlight.” But they don’t specify how exactly that should happen, allowing for a wide range of interpretations. 

“One of the most significant issues for all animals is true outdoor access and contact with the ground,” says Suzanne McMillan, director of the Farm Animal Welfare campaign for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). The new rules come after years of formal recommendations by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), a public advisory group made up of farmers, scientists, and other representatives. They not only specify that barns should have adequate exits so that animals can and do go outdoors, but they also mandate that the animals have to be on at least 50 percent soil, rather than concrete for example (with vegetative cover recommended but not required for the other 50 percent).

It’s mostly about poultry.

While the new NOP standards would affect living conditions and treatment for all species (it would prevent tail docking cattle, sheep and pigs, for instance), this round of changes is largely seen as impacting poultry. That’s because the standards for grazing animals on organic farms were already changed significantly in 2010, when the Access to Pasture Rule dictated that they had to spend a minimum of 120 days grazing on pasture every year.

As organic has grown from a niche market into a thriving economic force—surging 11 percent to $39.7 billion in 2015—producers have begun to loosen their interpretations of the animal welfare rules. The result is a sizable gap between what consumers believe and what is true about the organic meat, milk, cheese, chicken, or eggs bearing the green-and-white USDA certified organic seal.

“We’re seeing this trend where producers are finding the organic seal in and of itself is not enough to meet consumers’ expectations,” said Nate Lewis, Senior Crops and Livestock Specialist at the Organic Trade Association (OTA).

Take eggs. According to a detailed 2015 report on organic egg operations from the Cornucopia Institute, organic egg farms in the U.S. range from smaller pasture-based operations (which keep birds outside for the bulk of the day) to large indoor spaces with small doors to the outdoors that are taken advantage of by very few birds. “You may see 100 to 200 hens outside these barns, while the other 19,800 hens remain indoors,” write the authors. It can also include buildings with “small outdoor runs ranging from 2 to 10 square feet per bird” and porches, or attached screened-in areas with solid roofs.

All of these options currently qualify as “outdoor access,” but the porches are seen by many as the most creative use of the term.

These exceptions have created a lucrative opportunity for large-scale egg producers to enter the organic egg market while confining laying hens to multi-story aviaries. “This is certainly no reasonable person’s definition of outdoor access,” said McMillan.

According to OTA data (protected by their paywall), organically certified egg producers operating porch systems made up five percent of the organic farms in 2014, but Lewis said those farms accounted for 25 percent of the eggs on the market and that number has has grown steadily since then. And the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service AMS (keeper of the standards) estimates that 50 percent of organic eggs—or six out of every dozen—sold nationwide come from hens that never set foot outdoors.