{"id":89247,"date":"2020-04-16T13:45:12","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T18:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=89247"},"modified":"2020-04-27T09:34:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T14:34:36","slug":"egg-quality-its-no-yolk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/egg-quality-its-no-yolk\/","title":{"rendered":"Egg quality: It’s no yolk"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hannah Farrow<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

Cartons of eggs range from $1.79 to $7.99 at grocery stores, and they vary from cage-free to organic, brown to white. What do buzzwords like \u201cvegetable-fed\u201d or \u201cfree-range\u201d really mean? And what\u2019s worth the extra money?<\/p>\n

Learn what you\u2019re getting for the price you’re paying.
\n<\/p>\n

\"Fresh-picked
Fresh-picked eggs from Brittney Hantak’s backyard chickens. Hantak lives with her husband and two children in the Chicago suburbs and says she loves her chickens more than her dogs. (Hannah J. Farrow\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

$2 to $4<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Known as conventional eggs, they\u2019re collected from hens bred in captivity \u2014 up to 200,000 in one barn \u2014 with no access to sunlight. Because of their poor living conditions (which equates to high stress), the farmers clip the hens\u2019 beaks to avoid them picking at their own and others\u2019 feathers, said Marie Burcham, the director of domestic policy at the Cornucopia Institute, an organic industry watchdog group. \u201cTheir lives are brutally short. They’re essentially pushed to lay eggs at an unnatural rate, and as soon as they start to slow down because of their natural clock and how many eggs they have in them, they’re slaughtered.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Terms you\u2019ll see in this price range, and what they mean:.\n
      \n
    • Cage-free:<\/strong> The industry standard used to mean battery cages, where farmers shove thousands of chickens in cages and position them in front of a feeding trough. Cage-free is the same quantity of hens in the same space, just without the cages.<\/li>\n
    • Organic:<\/strong> To be labeled organic, the hens must have outdoor access, but industrialized factory farms twist the rules, Burcham said. Farmers use very tiny doors, which makes it look like the chickens can easily go outside, but the birds \u201chave a very strong instinct to avoid predation from above,\u201d Burcham said. \u201cSo a small door where they can’t see, they don’t feel protected from above.\u201d And therefore they never leave.<\/li>\n
    • Brown:<\/strong> The color of the shell depends solely on the breed of hen. Some strains of chickens lay green, very dark brown, olive and even blue\/lavender eggs, Burcham said.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \"Egg
      Brittney Hantak shows the difference in colors of eggs from two different hens. While both eggs are brown, one is lighter than the other, which is how she can tell which chicken it came from. (Hannah J. Farrow\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

      $4 to $6<\/strong><\/h2>\n

      The quality of these hens\u2019 lives are better, but depending on the brand, it may not be by much. Eggs overall, however, are \u201cone of the most bioavailable sources of protein you can eat,\u201d said Vicki Retelny, a registered dietitian nutritionist, \u201cmeaning that the body, the muscle, really does absorb and utilize that protein from the egg very efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n

        \n
      • Terms you\u2019ll see in this price range, and what they mean:\n
          \n
        • Free-range:<\/strong> These hens can\u2019t be in cages and must be able to see the outside. \u201cBut in reality, these huge barns can have 200,000 hens,\u201d Burcham said. \u201cThe space for the outdoors will be a little concrete porch that can maybe fit five hens.\u201d<\/li>\n
        • Vegetable-fed:<\/strong> \u201cHens are not herbivores,\u201d Burcham said. \u201cThey’re omnivores.\u201d So vegetarian-fed chickens mean they\u2019re only eating seed, and aren\u2019t feeding on their natural diet of bugs and insects. Burcham said her hens even eat mice. With a well-rounded diet, the hens lay eggs with more vitamins and omega threes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
          \"Outdoor
          A Silkie chicken runs around in Brittney Hantak’s backyard. (Hannah J. Farrow\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

          $6 to $8<\/strong><\/h2>\n

          The most important aspect to determine a high-quality egg from a high-quality chicken is \u201creally superb outdoor access,\u201d Burcham said. Natural foraging, socialization and a happy hen equates directly to the quality of eggs they produce.<\/p>\n

            \n
          • Terms you\u2019ll see in this price range, and what they mean:\n
              \n
            • Pasture-raised:<\/strong> These hens live natural lives, eat organic feed and feel little stress. They\u2019re also expensive to raise. The farmers collect and wash the eggs by hand, compared to machines used on conventional eggs, Burcham said.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

              Did you know?<\/h2>\n

              While a deep orange yolk is a quick way to determine hen health, some farmers add cayenne pepper to their hens\u2019 feed to dye the yolk. The best way to tell the quality of an egg is by its taste, not by the color of the yolk, Burcham said.<\/p>\n

              \u201cYou will feel the oils in that yolk more, it will have a more meaty flavor,\u201d Burcham said. \u201cYou can also sometimes taste, I don’t want to say bugs, but it tastes more like what you would get from chicken or meat.\u201d A low-quality egg will taste like sulfur.<\/p>\n

              Photo at top: A Buff Orpington chicken roams around Brittney Hantak’s backyard. Buff Orpingtons can lay about 180 eggs a year. (Hannah J. Farrow\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              By Hannah Farrow Medill Reports Cartons of eggs range from $1.79 to $7.99 at grocery stores, and they vary from cage-free to organic, brown to white. What do buzzwords like \u201cvegetable-fed\u201d or \u201cfree-range\u201d really mean? And what\u2019s worth the extra money? Learn what you\u2019re getting for the price you’re paying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":643,"featured_media":89256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,29,5008],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-health-and-science","category-spring-2020"],"yoast_head":"\nEgg quality: It's no yolk - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/egg-quality-its-no-yolk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Egg quality: It's no yolk - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Hannah Farrow Medill Reports Cartons of eggs range from $1.79 to $7.99 at grocery stores, and they vary from cage-free to organic, brown to white. 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