easter eggs : : selecting healthy eggs + making natural egg dyes
there are so many choices of types of eggs + i've been wondering about the meanings of descriptions on egg carton labels. other people in the egg section are usually just as confused. i asked robert, the dairy buyer at whole foods, to explain some of the descriptions, but he wasn't sure of the meanings either, so he did some research + here are his answers:
q."what's the difference between cage free + free range?"
a. "nothing. all the chickens are free to go in + out of unlocked coops."
q."what's the difference between veg fed + organic? do some eat meat?"
a."they're all fed vegetarian feed."organic" means their feed is organic."
q."when it says dha + omega 3, how are they added to the egg?"
a."it's in the chicken feed."
illustration by ingela peterson arrhenius via print+pattern
So does this mean I can say my kids are free-range, organically fed kids?
ReplyDelete:)
Actually, thanks for the info, this I did not know.
Great post! Martha Stewarts Food magazine has a short article on the differences as well. I dont know how I got to your blog but I'm glad I did! You have a awesome sense of style!
ReplyDeletewOw thanks for visiting + commenting scribbit + *emy :)
ReplyDeletesee i knew i wasn't the only one wondering about the egg descriptions, even martha's food magazine thinks it's confusing.
I wouldn't swear to this in court, but here's my understanding of the terms:
ReplyDeletecage free- kind of a meaningless term-like putting "natural" on a label. The chickens may get out of cages, but it doesn't mean they ever see the sun.
Free range- I think this carries more weight and actually has some standards behind it.
vegetarian fed- you may not want to know this, but in some factory farming practices, baby male chicks (which are worthless to an egg farm) get ground up and mixed into the feed for the rest of the chickens. I doubt all factory farms do this, but it has been shown to happen. Vegetarian fed means that the chickens eat what chickens are supposed to eat, just not organic feed.
hope this helps!
elissa
oh elissa,
ReplyDeletethat's disgusting, but i think you're very right about both things. i think i saw that on a tv show a long time ago.
so i'm choosing free range, organic veg (i hope i can find that choice). at whole foods, it's veg or organic. now i'm going to get them to clarify an organic veg feed choice (no ground up chicks, barf)
q."what's the difference between veg fed + organic? do some eat meat?"
ReplyDeletea."they're all fed vegetarian feed."organic" means their feed is organic."
You note that the question "do some eat meat?" isn't answered? Only what they are fed. If a chick dies, I have understood it, it's not unusual for the other ones to feed on that one. (Bloody cannibals!) And Robert is smart enough to get around this not so tasteful truth.
Have a eggstraordinarily happy Easter! And let's see some pics from mod painted eggs, ok? ;D
Happy Easter to you
ReplyDelete