Which eggs?

Eels100

Thanks rhubarbs - it looks like the superior nutritional value is linked to use of grass silage cf maize silage in non-organic systems. I've never seen maize silage used, as farms round here (I'm in Scotland) only use grass silage as part of a total mixed ration for dairy cows. I'd love to see a study done on whether Scottish milk is therefore more nutritious than milk from elsewhere!

HappyIdiotTalk

I buy organic chicken and eggs every time. As with most things the rules can be twisted. Some stuff I've read on the subject in Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's Family Food book isn't pleasant.

Free range
Free range means that the chicken should have access to range freely outdoors. However, if you take a big shed, fill it with a few thousand chickens. Then stick a small door in the corner, you can sell your eggs as free range. It matters not that most of the chickens wont ever be able to find the door and get outside. This is not the case with all free range, but I prefer not to take the chance. Choose your free-range with care!

Eggs from Caged Birds
Value eggs are completely out of the question for me. These birds get to spend their entire lives indoors with a personal space no bigger that the size of an A4 sheet of paper. Each cage takes 3 birds. Terrible. Also, so called Farm Fresh Eggs can come from the same source. A label stating Farm Fresh Eggs can simply mean that the eggs are eggs, are freshly laid, and come from a farm, even a battery one!

Barn Eggs
Barn laid eggs are a no no for me too. These birds dont live in cages, but the conditions are still pretty dire. These birds can spend their entire lives indoors in cramped overcrowded conditions.

Organic
Organic eggs come from chickens that should have lived a proper free-range life. They should only have been fed organic food and cannot have been given antibiotics. I'm not convinced about supermarket organic though as the shells are terribly thin and soft and that doesn't bode well for the lifestyle of the chicken that laid it. To get a thick strong shell the chicken needs to ingest bits of grit with its food. This means scratching around in the dirt for its food. So whats going on with supermarket organic eggs?

I'm the same with chicken (meat) too. I dont buy value and I'm choosy with free-range and organic. Costs a fortune, often double, but I think some respect to the animal is due if I'm going to eat it.

I dont judge other peoples choices though, and I suspect the egg I had in my sausage and egg sarnie at work this morning was more than likely a value one... But if I have the choice I go organic regardless of the extra cost.

Eels100

ScoobieGirl wrote:

the milk link I got my info from was from The Soil Association

Ooooh, I don't like their suggestion that the concentrated feeds given to non-organic cows contribute to mastitis. It's quite widely accepted that the limitation on milk production at the moment is directly related to food intake, whereas mastitis is more a problem of genetics and conformation.
Milk in general, however, is good!:British milk is safe

Also, a list of all medicines currently licensed for use in poultry in the UK. The list contains some antibiotics/anticoccidials (used to treat infections), but mostly vaccines (for prevention, obviously). Oh, and Lethobarb for putting them down! No hormones are licensed in the UK.

HappyIdiotTalk

ti1980 wrote:

I buy free range eggs myself. I don't really think about the cost as I only buy for myself and 12 eggs lasts me a month. I don't pay much attention to the best before dates as I get the ones with the latest date in the shop at the time and have never had eggs go off on me (touch wood).

How much do you pay for your eggs and where do you buy them from and in what quantity out of interest?

The best eggs I've ever bought were from a green grocers near to where I work. However a few months ago the owner passed away. It has since reopen but they only do free-range now so I'm looking for a new supplier. They were however great eggs, tasted very noticeibly better, shells were thick and they didn't leak as much when fried. Cant remember the cost as it wasn't a concern, I think they may have been £1.45 for 6.

I used to buy free-range from a farm. Therse were good too, almost as good as he organic above. But my working hours have changed and the shop isn't open when I pass it anymore. Prices were very good although I cant remember what they went for as its been a couple of years since I last bought any.

Supermarket organic. Expensive. Not as good as either of the above. Shells are better than regular supermarket eggs, but are still suspeciously softer than they should be... At least the ones I bought at Morrisons, Sainsburys and Tesco were.

Lets face it mass produced supermarket produce cant compete with small scale local. Even on the organic front.

ageandjo

Oh dear oh dear....

I used to work in the egg industry and I can say that you 'think' you are buying free range or barn eggs that are sold in shops but 80% of the time what you were buying were battery eggs in free range/barn egg packaging.
This was a very touvhy subject when the MAFF came round to inspect production figures against sales of barn/ free range/ battery eggs.
Again what eggs were packaged to go to happy shopper were no different to say Harrods free range eggs at £2 more expensive, I even know of a farm shop that used to buy the eggs take them back to their farm shop, unpack them and add some straw to the egg trays to convince their customer they were true free range:eek:

Anastacia

I used to pack eggs when i first left school, all the eggs came in on on from various farms etc and we had no idea how the chickens were kept. We graded them for size, removed the baddies & boxed then up according to orders. I remember one of our customers used to take them out of their boxes to display then as 'straight from the chicken' eggs in his shop window.

I had forgotten all this. i think i may have been paying twice as much as i needed to for my eggs .

Penny-Pincher!!

I use cheapie eggs when baking and free range for breakfasts, yorkies etc

I am lucky that we normally get the FR next to nothing at the local Sainsburys, so very rarely have to buy cheapie eggs.

PP
xx

sparklybug

we have chickens so I would promote free range, look out for farms or allotment keepers selling eggs as they will be free range and are usually cheaper. We sell any extras we have to friends and neighbours for £1.20 a dozen compared to the £1.89 or so I pay when they are having a rest during winter... I

sparklybug

oh....really sad to hear people are ripping off people like this...adds power to my recommendation for buying from farmers etc as you can go and see the chickens

cheerfulness4

At my farmers market yesterday the egg stall was selling organic eggs for £2 per dozen. This was cheaper than Asda which were £1.35 for six when I checked in my local last night.

After reading Hugh Wittingstall-Fernleys Meat Book I decided that mini budget or not, we could at least afford organic eggs. Conscience wouldn't allow otherwise now. As finances allow will make full change over to our shopping.