What Eggs to Buy?

There are some simple rules when it comes to buying eggs: buy Cage-Free or Free-Range and, if you can afford it, Organic.

Everything else is just confusion.

If you want a comprehensive definition of all the terms, use The Humane Society’s website here to read up on it.

Most eggs sold in the US are from battery hen farms. This horrifies most people once they read that the hens can barely move. The recent salmonella scare in Iowa drew attention to these battery farms. Trader Joe’s only switched to Cage-Free in 2006 after sustained consumer pressure and now Kroger is being targeted by shareholders to do the same. They own Ralphs, which had many battery hen eggs recalled in a recent Iowa scare. 

In July 2010 California took action on Prop 2 and banned battery cages, effective in 2015. It applies to all eggs sold in California, including those from out-of-state. While there will be ambiguity for a while, cage-free means that the hens will have to have more space. While they may not be able to go outside, they can at least walk and spread their wings and lay their eggs in nests instead of on a conveyor belt. Critics say they still have parts of their beaks cut off but the other changes are very encouraging.

By the way, the Grade A rating doesn’t mean much – it simply means those eggs have been checked by a USDA grader for breakage and consistency of size and color. Grade B eggs are so-called if they are slightly stained or misshapen. There is no one government agency charged with regulating egg and farm hygiene although increasingly it is falling to the FDA rather than the USDA.

Young male chickens are slaughtered in the hundreds of millions because they don't lay eggs and aren't bred to grow as large or as rapidly as chickens used in the meat industry. Horrible.

There is simply no substitute for raising your own hens. But that is another story.

For extra reading, here is an article from Time Magazine critical of the organic movement but the letters in response are far superior to the article. Or try Marion Nestle’s great blog here.

Photo: David Shankbone/Wikipedia