Sunday, January 11, 2009


A friend of mine recently asked me a few questions about eggs and I thought I would share them here.

1.  Are brown eggs healthier than white eggs?

No.  The color of the eggshell depends on the breed of chicken.  There is even a breed of chicken called araucana that produces blue shells on their eggs.

2.  What is the difference between cage free and free range chickens?  And are the eggs from one better than the other?  

Egg-laying chickens are usually raised in small cages stacked high called battery caging.  The cages are not very big, leaving not enough room for the chickens to spread their wings.  Cage free means that the chickens are not in cages but are in a large building free to roam around and spread their wings.  Free-range means that the chickens have access to the outdoors.  Unfortunately many times free-range chickens are raised indoors and not granted access to the outdoors until they are several weeks old, at which point they don't go outside anyway.  Although the consumer-intent for free-range eggs is that the chickens are living happy, pastoral lives, running around in the outdoors scratching and eating bugs I don't believe this always happens.  For me this means that cage-free and free-range are probably similar treatments for the birds and either one is preferable to raising them in small confined cages.  If you are certain that the free-range eggs are indeed from chickens who are running freely outside then those would be the best eggs.

3.  Is it worth it to buy organic eggs?

Buying organic eggs means that the chickens have not been fed any animal by-products, given hormones, antibiotics or eaten any genetically modified feed.  Additionally organic eggs are always from free-range chickens.  There are studies showing the organically raised fruits and vegetables have more nutrients than their conventionally grown counterparts. I have not seen any studies showing that the same is true for organically raised eggs but I feel that it is probably true.

4.  Why do they advertise omega-3 eggs and how do they do that?

I believe producers are advertising omega-3 eggs because there is a current trend or fad for foods that are enhanced with omega-3, or alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).  Most of us don't get enough of this important essential fatty acid in our diet so producers think (and sadly they're mostly correct) that by advertising in big letters that their product contains ALA will convince many of us to buy it.  How do they get the omega-3's in there?  They feed the chickens a diet that is very high in flaxseeds which are one of the natural sources of ALA.  Walnuts and salmon are two other very good sources.  I personally feel that I would rather eat foods that are naturally high in omega-3's than pay extra for enhanced eggs.

5.  Does the color of the yolk mean anything?

Free-range chickens who are scratching and eating bugs tend to produce richer colored yolks because of all of the greens they are eating.  However it is possible to get a more golden color yolk by feeding corn or alfalfa to the chicken; chickens fed wheat will have pale colored yolks.   It is even possible to get an orange-y color to the yolks by feeding marigold petals to the chickens.  I believe advertisement of yolk color on the package simply means the producer is counting on the consumer to this that this means the egg is fresher or better when what they have done is feed the chicken a diet that changes the yolk color.

6.  Why do they advertise vegetarian-fed on the egg carton?

I don't really know, since chickens are not vegetarians.  I assume that it is to assure the consumer that the chickens are not being fed any animal by-products.  By natural inclination chickens would eat bugs, worms and other small animals but if they are not free-range they do not have access the these.

Hopefully this will help you make the best egg choice for your family.

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