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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
Can you go to the farm and check out the local eggs? I would almost always trust a place where I can show up and check it out over eggs from the store where who knows where they come from.
Which would you recommend if your choices were:
Local Farm Eggs (def. not organic and not sure if they are cage free ) or Store Bought Organic/Cage Free? (these are my only two options)
I live in LA. I buy pastured eggs from Whole Foods. Where can I get locally pastured eggs from a farm around here?
Glad to report that my 14 pastured hens (and a few handsome roosters, too) are snug on the perches in their cozy coop tonight, after another long day of foraging, dust-bathing, and socializing on 2 acres of grass and woods. I can’t even imagine having them confined to cages that have fewer square inches than a sheet of paper. 🙁
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I get a dozen X Lg eggs from the farm I get my milk from -$5.50 a dozen so not as often as I would like –but no soy and are cage free and eat good bugs -so worth it at times (yummy too) but will get organic from the store at $3.54 a dozen since we eat 3-4 dozen a week1
There is nothing to expose, the organic law states that they only need to have access on days that the weather is fit.
Been there raised them and honest to God, my husband was so ticked that none of the chickens would go outside we had to push them out! and then they run right back in the building. It is like culture shock for them to be out and they know that food and water is inside. It is also a big joke among the poultry farmers that added these chicken doors that the birds will not go out.
Organic birds are fed organic grains (corn for sure not sure about soy beans my husband is the farmer I just pretend like I know what is going on LOL).
And I am not sure if the same holds out for chickens as cows but dairy that is organic is NOT necessarily fed 100% organic feed :0/ They only need to feed a percentage of organic (presumably more than conventional but many farmers lie about this).
The laws/rules are ALL MESSED UP. Buy local as often as possible.
Also I do not understand exactly why but my husband told me to NEVER buy an organic chicken for meat (commercial) because whatever they are treated with goes thru their meat and conventional antibiotics go to their gut which we don’t eat anyhow….
Have there been any farms exposed as beeing free range and organic but were really giving the hens maybe 5 min a day of light?
Oh man Dana! When we were in Hawaii there were chickens running crazy everywhere. Wonder if you could have a few where you live.
Oh man Dana! When we were in Hawaii there were chickens running crazy everywhere. Wonder if you could have a few where you live.