Which Egg to Buy?
Jesse,
I don’t understand the difference between all the different types of
eggs…free range, cage free, happy chicken, organic, Omega 3, etc…..Help!
Ida
Free range doesn’t actually mean much of anything. It’s unfortunate, but hens housed in a warehouse, not kept in cages, and given access to the outside through a door at the end of the warehouse that they never travel through are free range. The only difference between cage free eggs and free range eggs is that the cage free hens don’t have the door at the end of the warehouse, but since none of the hens in the other warehouse really take advantage of the door, it’s not a big deal.
Vegetarian diet eggs are preferable to eggs from hens fed chicken meal and fish meal and beef byproducts, though a naturally-raised hen is omnivorous and can get a decent percentage of her diet from bugs and grubs in the ground. So, if you get your eggs from a farm where the hens really are cage free and free range, don’t expect that they will have led a vegetarian life (but do expect that they haven’t been fed industrial byproducts).
Organic eggs may also be raised in a warehouse. The feed may contain some industrial byproducts including fish meal, so long as it is certified organic feed.
With so many shady labeling schemes by large egg distributors, that’s why I recommend that, if possible, you get eggs that are identified by the farm where the chickens were raised. Even better would be to know about the farm and the conditions that the hens are raised in, but at the very least if you are getting farm-fresh eggs from a store, you have indication that a) the eggs are being raised in a fairly small operation and b) the product is good enough for the store to stock it. Not only that, but you have the farm’s contact information so that you can, if you desire, call them up and ask them about where their birds are kept.
In Pittsburgh, eggs from several individual farms are available on a regular basis at the East End Food Co-Op, though the selection of farms they stock tends to vary. Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, Whole Foods, and other locations have eggs from Champion Chicks in Donegal, PA, where the eggs come from a flock of 500 and are gathered by hand. Also, if you ever go on drives outside of Pittsburgh into the rural areas of PA, WV, and OH, it is fairly common to see signs advertising eggs at individual farms. If you happen to pass by such a location and you have the time to stop, I highly recommend that you do.
The Omega-3 eggs are shown to have higher concentrations of Omega-3 fatty acids than a standard egg does. These fatty acids have been shown to perhaps reduce the risk of some types of heart disease. If you are seeking to reduce your risk of heart disease, though, it seems to me that eggs should be at the periphery of a wider range of dietary choices.
February 27th, 2008 at 1:56 am
I’m actually one of a number of volunteers at a local agricultural park, taking care of a flock of 50 chickens once a week, collecting the eggs, topping off the feed and water, cleaning out the coop etc, and I get free eggs, which are totally organic, free range (bugs & grubs!), natural in every way, out of the deal. The yolks are practically fluorescent from all the beta carotene, and they taste like an entirely different product when compared to the industrial variety. But I lucked into the situation, so I would say the farmer’s market or direct from the farmer options are the way to go for most folks.
And speaking of the many choices we have as consumers when it comes to eggs, a fellow food blogger here in Portland is doing some thesis work on this, and she’s looking for people to take her egg survey. If any of you have a couple extra minutes, check it out at http://eatlikeachef.wordpress.com/2008/02/22/take-the-egg-survey-all-the-cool-kids-are-doing-it/
February 27th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
To follow up on Tommy’s post, there is an easier link to the survey…wait for it…EggSurvey.org. I’ll leave it open until March 1st, 2008, and if you can pass the word, I’d appreciate it! Hopefully it will draw some attention to the fact that a lot of people are making money on our good sustainable and humane intentions, but that in general, consumers don’t have enough label/term info to know what they are getting and actually supporting.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Looks like PG restaurant critic, China Millman, “borrowed” your idea for an article of her own . . .
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08062/861267-34.stm
On the Menu: How ‘humane’ is your food?
Sunday, March 02, 2008
By China Millman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I saw that article in the paper sunday and actually meant to link to it myself—not because I suspect her of milling this page for her story ideas, but because she provides a good answer sheet to the egg survey in terms of what practices are allowed under different labeling schemes–not just in terms of eggs, but also meat and poultry products. Some of the permitted practices are quite eye-opening, and reinforce my dedication to my local farmers.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:31 am
[...] More than that there’s the agricultural belt that surrounds the city where you can get most any product you’d like directly from the farmer. Some info about why I like getting my eggs directly from the farm and the differences between farm eggs and factory eggs is here and some more info about the classifications of eggs and what some of the words on the carton mean is here. A little bit about the first time my friends and I made a bulk purchase of grass-fed beef is here. [...]