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Food manufacturers have attempted to demonize eggs for decades. It is infinitely more profitable to convince the public to eat Egg Beaters and processed vegetable oils than to encourage them to consume the non-patentable perfection that is the egg.
Even folks who see through the marketing hype against eggs that is cleverly disguised as “science” frequently get waylaid by the free range and organic eggs labeling on egg cartons.
The truth is that buying organic, free range eggs from the supermarket or healthfood store is no guarantee that the birds lived a healthy life. What’s more, the eggs may not even be that nutrient dense. You’re safer buying duck eggs or goose eggs as these types of birds are more resistant to industrialized living. Even when domesticated, they eat more closely to their native diet than chickens.
Let’s take a look at why organic chicken eggs are a scam.
Organic Eggs Reality Check #1
Did you know that there are no requirements for the quality or amount of time spent outside for organic eggs or even free range eggs? This means that organic eggs could actually be from hens who get basically no bugs in their diet from pecking in the ground. If the hens don’t get to peck around in the ground for grubs and insects, the eggs they produce will have drastically reduced nutritional value – organic or not.
Organic Eggs Reality Check #2
Did you know that the hens from a free range or organic eggs farm can still have their beaks cut and be subjected to forced molting which involves starving them for 7-14 days which can in some cases kill them?
Organic Eggs Reality Check #3
Organic eggs marked as “cage free” does not mean that the hens have access to the outdoors or even daylight! The hens could actually be running around inside with artificial lighting on a concrete floor and the eggs still qualify as cage free!
The only way to get truly healthy eggs where you can be sure the hens are not abused is to buy local from a farmer you trust, not organic eggs from the store!
There is no way around this folks that I have found. You must start connecting with the people in your community if you really want to source some decent eggs!
Folks in my buying club regularly tell me how shocked they are when they run out of the eggs sourced locally and buy a carton of organic eggs from the store how puny, pathetic and bland tasting they are. They are also incredibly expensive.
Not only will you more than likely save yourself some money buying eggs locally, you will also be helping a local business remain viable and improving the nutrient density of your diet all at the same time!
Organic eggs most definitely does not always mean better!
Need more egg recipes once you’ve found a quality local source? Try these breakfast egg ideas, easy lunch egg recipes, and dinner egg recipes for inspiration!
Below is a fantastic infographic on the reality behind the egg industry created by Kristin Lindquist. What factoids did you find most alarming?
More Information
Best Egg Substitute (plus Video)
Organic Store Eggs Just Don’t Stack Up
What Oxidizes the Cholesterol in Eggs?
Think You Have Fresh Eggs? Here’s How to Tell
Crystal Palmer Bull via Facebook
I would like to raise a few thoughts. I homestead and would suggest everyone… but short of that.. most people are choosing the organic label to make sure that they are not feeding their children GMO’s. Even if the store Organic egg is not free range it is (should be) GMO free. I also want to piont out that while I free range my birds AND give an organic feed to supp. Most local farmers that are free ranging.. are supp with gmo feed. So these are choices you have to weight and make. It is very rare to find a local farmer who does not grain AT all.. and if you do…keep them!
jason and lisa
agree.. the local farmer we have used for years is great and the eggs are pretty good but i still dont like the gmo in the feed.. i understand that the feed will be expensive and drive the egg cost up but i for one am willing to pay a bit more to avoid the gmo..thats why weve switched to vital farms and are doing everything in our power to get some chickens of our own..that way we know for sure what were getting..
-jason and lisa-
Cheryl
The laying chicken breeds that are available to us, even those that were developed centuries ago, have been selected to produce large eggs. If they were only on pasture and forage, they would be skinny and produce little, bitty eggs. I raise a small flock of heritage breed layers on pasture, but they do need some supplemental feed to produce these lovely eggs with strong yolks and hard shells.
About the price of eggs: regular chicken feed from the local feed store is about $15 for a 50lb bag. Commercial organic (non-gmo) feed is $42 per 50lb bag, that is IF you can find it locally. It is naturally even more expensive if you have it shipped to you.
So at least one reason farners feed their pastured chickens gmo-containing feeds is simply price and availability.
Sonya
WOW. This makes me sick to my stomach and so sad for the chickens. When I was a little girl I had a pet chicken, his name was Big Bird! I thought I was making better choices by purchasing from my natural food store, but obviously not. Thanks for the post. I enjoy your blog and have learned so much. 🙂
Alison Conner via Facebook
I wish I could raise my own chickens! Apartment life does not allow that sort of thing unfortunately…
realfoodiecharlie
+1!
Laura Hartman via Facebook
I raise my own.
Abby Hudgins via Facebook
I want my own chickens.
Ady
I am glad you mentioned Vital Farms because those are the eggs I buy, since it is as close as you can get to farm fresh here where I live. I grew up in a different country and every time I visit my family I get amazed with the color of the egg yolks (truly orange like a mandarine). Vital Farms eggs are definitely darker than any other I have found in the US, but doesn’t get anywhere close to the colors I’ve seen in the past from my home country. Now, my question is, will the type of soil and nutrients, insects, etc hens are exposed to, will be the reason why eggs here in the states can’t achieve that deep dark orange color even though hens were pastured raised? Will they have the same nutritional content as the deep orange color since they were raised the same way (pastured), just in a different soil? Thanks.
jason and lisa
not sure about that one.. i know the dirt can make a difference with produce.. new england to me has some of the best fresh food in the country.. the dirt is different there and everything that comes out of the ground seems to be better for it.. i would love to go back 200 years and taste food before we destroyed it..
-jason and lisa-
Jaime
I get my eggs from the family who owns my local dairy farm (best milk ever!!) and their chickens have free range of the farm! The eggs are the tastiest, with tough shells etc, but their yolks are never orange- just the deepest yellow colour. I know that in addition to the grain supplement the chickens have access too, the farmers mum (78 and still helps with milking!!) feeds the chickens some corn and fresh cows milk every day. The soil is also a rich red colour, and the farmer grows the best polyculture pasture for his ladies, so I don’t know what factor contributes to the dark yellow colour… but they taste great!
Silkie
The dark yellow is from the breed of chicken (some breeds tend to have more orangey yolks than others) and from bugs and greens that they eat.
Susan
My friend almost passed out when I told her I spend 4.50 on a dozen eggs from my local farmer (I’m in CA). She asked why I just don’t buy them from Trader Joe’s because they have organic free range eggs for much cheaper. I explained to her that I had read about Joe’s egg farmers trimming their chicken’s beaks. How can a chicken with half a beak forage? I couldn’t get her to understand why foraging was important or even why exercise was necesarry or why their beaks were needed, for pete’s sake!! I’m going to send this article to her!!
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist
BINGO
jason and lisa
awesome.. thank you so much..
-jason and lisa-
Candyce C. Fleming
Was a vegetarian for a loooong time and finally became Vegan almost three years ago. I am amazedg that as aggressive as I am in striving to purchase wisely – there is always so much more to know. My husband is NOT vegan, so my goal is to be as ethical as possible in my purchasing choice for him. This article WOWed me.. and was another strong root in my choice to be vegan. Great share!
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist
Yes indeed. The information I came across while researching for this article disturbed me as well. There is no substitute for a personal relationship with the people who produce your food.
Trisha
While I totally respect your decision to be vegan, if it is because of animal welfare issues, there are ways to find ethically raised meat and dairy. Get to know the farmers in your area. You may have to enjoy a drive in the country one weekend to do it 🙂 I raise my hens 100% free range. They come and go as they please and are safely closed in only at night. They are allowed to range and scratch and eat bugs etc all day everyday.
My dairy cow is on a grassy pasture all spring, summer and fall. We have deep snow here in the winter, so she is in a barn with a paddock attached and she gets to come and go as she pleases all day and night.
I believe in raising food that is nutritious and lives a happy life while they are with me. Of course my dairy cow will be with us many many years as will our laying hens and they will get the best we can provide.
I hope you are able to find such a place to buy eggs for your husband…and possibly even for yourself one day.
Dani Shipp
Hi Tricia,
Everyone I know that raises chickens for eggs and even Vital Farms supplements with grain feed, most containing soy. Vital Farms website discusses adding soy and says that not using soy means adding blood/bone meal. Does anyone only pasture feed?
Juliana
My parents found that they always had to supplement with a grain feed, in our California foothills climate. Now that their chickens have all aged past egg-laying years, I buy mine from a local farmer who sells either “regular” eggs from hens supplemented with standard organic feed, or “soy-free” eggs from hens supplemented with a grain feed where the soy component is replaced with sesame seeds. So — sesame is apparently an option.
And to address other comments above, thickness of the shell is a function of the minerals (esp calcium) in the diet, and so it can vary quite a bit with pastured hens, since their diet varies with the seasons. My parent’s chickens roamed in their orchard, and when there was a lot of fruit on the ground they always had to drastically increase the calcium component of their feed mix or the shells would be too weak.
jason kirkland
has anyone heard of vital farms?? any news on them?? they claim to be on pasture and any grain that does get used is organic and non gmo.. the shells seems tough and the yolk is tough and orange.. eggs taste great too.. weve been happy but after reading this was just wondering if anyone had heard anything bad about them..
-jason and lisa-
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist
They sound like a winner! Taste, color, and hardness of the shell tell the tale in my experience.
sandybt
Mankind has been consuming cooked animal protein for countless generations. The invention of fire goes way back. If this is such a completely denatured food, how have we managed to survive and reproduce, and how did the primitive tribes studied by Weston Price and others enjoy such excellent health?
Liz
The tribes studied by Weston Price had an infant mortality rate of a third. They’re life expectancy was 35 and they went incredibly long stretches of not eating. People have excellent teeth when they don’t eat for days on end. If you want to go back to their lifestyle, nothing is stopping you. (although, if you’re older than 35, you should really count your lucky stars we have modern medicine, modern agriculture and easy access to clean water that helped you reach the age you are now).
Ursula
Where did you get those ‘facts’ from, Quackwatch? Because it was Stephen Barrett, who is a complete fraud (and a shill for the pharmaceutical companies), who said what you are claiming as the truth.
In fact, this is the truth:
“Price extolled the health of those groups who were healthy, and described the high rates of infant mortality, endemic diseases and malnutrition in the groups that were not healthy. Much of the value of his research comes from the fact that he was able to observe healthy and unhealthy groups of the same racial stock side by side, and thereby demonstrate the correlation between diet and disease. Although we will never be able to ascertain the life expectancy of the primitive peoples he studied, Price noted great longevity among certain groups, such as the Eskimos and the South Sea Islanders.
And in fact, you’re totally wrong about malnourished people having great teeth, that’s how much you know! Cavities are actually caused by malnutrition and poor diet.
Oliver
Mankind has been killing protiens for as long as it has been cooking them. The reason we have “managed” is because we still ate other raw foods that still had vitamins and minerals and proteins in them.
Just because we started barbecuing we didn’t just stop eating raw foods – just like today where we include salads and fruits and nuts etc into our diet.
Doug Baumber
RE RAW FOOD HUMANS HAVE BEEN COOKING FOR ABOUT 2.5 MILLION YEARS.it is one of the great evolutionary breakthroughs. Cooking pre-predigests and eliminates food poisoning bacteria.
The raw food group are way off base. If you eat raw eggs u fail to denature a toxin that destroys biotin. In WWII their was a problem with fighter pilots shot down. They would raid farms and eat raw eggs- which eventually poisoned them giving them severe B deficiency resulting in extreme fatigue.
In plant material – humans cannot breakdown cellulose- by cooking u break down the cell wall so u can absorb intracellular as well as extracellular material.
RE Broccoli . Raw broccoli has compounds that cause thyroid dysfunction. Cooking destroys that compound.
In an interesting study re raw verses cooked meat. they compared cooked verses raw meat fed to a snake. the snake obtained 50% more energy from the cooked meat.
My chickens love it when i cook them broccoli- which they can not eat raw- and puree for them.
Ursula
The reason our kids are so unhealthy is vaccines, lack of fats and real nutrients and too many carbs, as well as GMOs and toxins in our food, air and water (like fluoride). Not because they’re eating cooked eggs.
Little Mermaid
the reason our kids are so unhealthy is because our infant mortality rate is so low. Imagine if 30% of the weakest kids died. That would leave only the healthy kids with healthy immune systems. Think about the herd immunity then! And THEN on top of that, only the healthy babies who made the cut will grow up and breed. We would become a super race. We should just get rid of all the vaccines, feed children bone broth, or let them starve if their too poor (since organic food, or pastured birds are expensive, especially if there is a disease breakout since we can not use antibiotics because then how will separate the strong from the weak?) Instead of giving kids vaccines, we should inject them with live polio!!!! If the kids survive that disease while starving, we’ll know that they were the genetic elite. Screw modern medicine.
Ursula
Wow, little mermaid, how ignorant you are. North American statistics actually show that our infant mortality rates are abysmal in comparison to even some countries considered third world countries. I think we’re something like 40th from the top.
And the very reason our babies die IS vaccines! They kill and maim, and cause SIDS, autism, asthma, allergies, diabetes, auto-immune diseases……… We’re PRODUCING weak kids by what we do to them. Feeding them good food, giving them vitamins and allowing them to actually get some sunshine (instead of slathering on the sunscreen that assures a vitamin D deficiency) would give them a strong immune system. Vaccines have NEVER been proven to be safe or effective, and don’t prevent any illnesses at all.
Actually, modern medicine is the second leading cause of death in North America, too, right behind heart attack. Doctors and hospitals kill scores of people.
Statistics show that when antibiotics were introduced, mortality rates did NOT fall! Sure, they save some people. But overall, they haven’t been the ‘miracle’ everybody thinks they are.
jason and lisa
actually mermaid, ive taken that side before.. we are the only species since the beginning of time that has successfully done away with natural selection.. as a species weve allowed the gene pool to become weakened by our emotions.. we are the only species ever where the strong prop up the weak, the smart prop up the stupid and my favorite….. those who WILL work prop up those who WONT.. i think its interesting that we are the only species i can think of that is getting weaker.. we are breeding out the strength and brains and replacing it with docile, weak, stupid drones.. either way, thought it was interesting..
-jason and lisa-
Karen DeWitt
Dear Oliver,
You sound just as open minded as you are asking Sarah to be. Thank goodness for people, well rounded, and unbiased as you. Able to look at the bare, obvious facts of science and the world around us. I too, used to make the mistake of feeding my children cooked foods, as part of a well balanced whole food diet, including many raw foods. Sure, my kids seemed healthy from the outside- well balanced immunes systems, minimal allergies, none of the eczema and asthma that seemed to plague children in the US. Sure they were vibrant, energetic and happy- but I knew better. I read some of the posts, links and articles by you and I learned the Truth.
Sure it can be hard switching a 3 and 5 year old child to a raw diet, but I didn’t let that slow me down. They complained, they missed some of their (cooked) comfort foods, they certainly lost some weight and their pediatrician was concerned- but I was not. I knew better then her and than most. I understood the chemistry. They do get sick more often now, and their temperament is not quite as good. But I feel good- knowing that I am making the right choices for them.
Naysayers claim I don’t know what I’m doing, that yes the facts I state are true but they must be taken in context- that some foods in fact have nutrients that more utilizable by our body if lightly cooked or processed. I just laugh at them. I understand the chemistry of how this food has more intact nutrients in in it’s original form, who needs context beyond that?
Ursula
Wow, you’re saying that ‘they get sick more often now and their temperament isn’t quite as good’, but you’re not worried and are confident you’re doing the right thing.
I expect you also aren’t giving your kids enough saturated fat and protein now. Both of which are VITAL for children’s growth, both physically and mentally.
That they’re sick more often as well as being grumpy and losing weight is indicative of them being actually malnourished.
Also, there ARE some foods that only unlock some nutrients through cooking. Carrots are rich in some nutrients when raw, but there are others you can’t get until you cook them.
By the way, when you say you feed your kids a raw diet, does that include raw eggs and raw meat, or are you forcing them to be vegans? I hope it isn’t the latter. If you lived in Europe, you’d be charged with neglect and child abuse for feeding young children only vegan, raw foods. Kids have died because of that!
Roxanne
Um…I think Karen was being sarcastic in her post….
Jen
I’m pretty sure she was being sarcastic with that comment. I hope so!
Rachel B.
They sell them in my grocery store but their pricey at $5.25/dozen.
Rachel Greenfield
You only pay $5.25 for them?! They’re nearly $7 at my store! I’ve checked them out and they’re what they say they are, and they taste great too. I’ll pay it, but I wish stores around here didn’t jack the price up so high just because there are affluent people living nearby. The rest of us have to eat too!
amy
Vital Farms
Nicole, The Non-Toxic Nurse
At our house it is either local pasture raised or Vital Farms. Vital Farms sells for $7.00 per dozen where I live and they are worth every penny. They are nearly impossible to crack and the yolks are deep golden yellow.