EGGS: THE ETHICAL DILEMMA

I’m in the egg department at King Kullen, and I’m facing an ethical dilemma. Do I buy the cheap eggs and never mind how those chickens are spending their lives? And then there's the package. The cheap eggs come in compostable paperboard boxes, but almost all the supposedly humane eggs now come in plastic foam. I reject the plastic.  Of course, I could solve my dilemma by not eating eggs any more. But I love how they taste, they're nutritious and low calorie and a relatively cheap source of protein; I'm not going to give them up. So I'm looking at all the labels and the boxes and trying to see my way to an ethical choice.

 

THE LIFE OF A LAYING HEN

The labels on eggs do tell you how they are getting treated if you know their meaning. If the box says nothing except Grade A and the size, and the eggs cost under $3 for a dozen, you can be sure the chickens who laid them are spending about 2 years crammed into battery cages  with 1 to 1.5 sq. feet of space, so little that they can’t even spread their wings. They eat and sleep in the same space, along with their feces and dust. The only reason they don’t peck each other to death is their beaks have been blunted--the tip cut off. Ouch. So I’m looking for a label that says at least "Cage Free,” or for more certainty, "Certified Humane." This means the birds aren't kept in cages, can perch somewhere and dust bathe, but they're living indoors, a multitude of birds inside some kind of barn. Don’t imagine it means they’re clucking around in anything like a nice outdoor yard somewhere, but presumably they have some freedom of movement. 

On a tiny length of shelf space among all the other brands King Kullen offers,  I spy McMahon's Certified Humane, Cage Free eggs, and they're in a paperboard package. Price: $4.99 a dozen.

That's about 42 cents an egg, compared to 25 cents for the cheap eggs. I can afford it. I buy McMahon's. 

To find eggs from hens that have lived mainly outside, I had to go to another store--Southdown Market--to find Vital Farms, pasture raised eggs, in a paper box. The price for 18 large eggs? $10 or about 55 cents an egg. I buy those too, to see what they are like, and when I break them the yolks are a lovely orange yellow. That's the sign of a fresh egg. Each box of Vital Farm eggs is stamped with the name of the farm they came from, and you can look at video of the farm. Mine says Loblolly Pine Farm and yes, there in the video are chickens wandering outside in a natural area. 

WHAT THE HECK IS AN ORDINARY EGG?

When I do research, I can't help following my trail of curiosity, so I decided to check out claims by Eggland, a major TV egg advertiser. The company claims its eggs are more nutritious, better tasting than--"ordinary eggs." Well, easy for them to say since there's no such category of eggs. No such designation by the USDA or anybody else. It's just advertising puffery. Another label that you shouldn't pay extra for says "Vegetarian Fed." Guess what? Hens are not vegetarians by nature. They eat worms and bugs and grubs if they can get at them. A label that says "organic," however, is supposed to mean no cages and a diet free from animal byproducts, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, and most pesticides.  Yuck. So if you care about what the hens are eating, look for the organic label.

THE BOTTOM LINE 

If your budget is tight, cheap eggs in a paper carton are a realistic choice. If you can afford it, the ethical choice at minimum are eggs labeled cage free and Certified Humane. It means you not only care about the hens but also are supporting farmers taking good care of the them.  The good news is that consumers' concerns about hens' living conditions is transforming egg production, and the industry is in the midst of a shift to cage-free. 

Investing in new barns, etc. costs money, and the prediction is that truly cheap eggs are a thing of the past. But whether the additional expenses do justify 42 cents an egg, like McMahons, or 55 cents like Vital's, remains to be seen. When cage-free becomes the rule, it's possible competition will make prices more reasonable. ##

 

 

 

 

 

But my ethical dilemma doesn’t end there: consider the packaging. Eggs used to all come in paperboard boxes that easily compost. Now almost all of them come in a foam-type plastic box, including many of the ones with cage free language on them. It’s worth mentioning, by the way, that Eggland’s advertising claims are just puffed up like a souffle. The ads claim they have better nutrition, better taste than…”ordinary eggs” according to the tiny footnote on the bottom of the screen. Of course there is no such thing as an “ordinary” egg, according to the USDA. The only thing that does matter is whether the egg box carries a shield that says “USDA” and the grade double AA or just A https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/ShellEggAAGradeBW.png

The double AA is the freshest and best quality.

So what to buy? I spy a tiny section of shell space with eggs in a paperboard box that also claims cage free status. It’s more than twice the price of the King Kullen eggs. I go for them. There’s a price for being an ethical consumer.