For Those Who Can Eat Eggs

[MBombardier]

http://www.cornucopia.org/organic-egg-scorecard/

I was saddened to see that Trader Joe's eggs are scored so low, and I will no longer grab Oakdell eggs as a last resort. However, I am pleased that other brands available to me scored well, as eggs are one of my main sources of protein.

[Rosie]

Thanks for that url, Marliss. I had been buying Egglunds, but had switched to Wilcox several months ago at Market of Choice in Eugene, OR because they are a more local brand in WA. I see that Egglunds got the lowest 1 egg rating. Wilcox got a pretty good 3 egg rating and is probably one of those available to you since you live in WA.

I noticed that one of the best labels at 5 eggs is Skagit River Ranch. It is located north of Seattle in the same town my son and family live, Sedro Wooley. I looked at the map, and it appears that they are only about 5 miles away! They also sell organic beef and pork, and their own honey. They have a farm store, tours, and lots of community activities. It looks like an interesting place to visit with the grandkids (4 and 6 years old) when we are up there at Christmas! I would never have known about it if you hadn't posted the url!

Rosie

[tex]

Marliss,

Did you look at that site's "Scorecard Criteria"? I don't claim to be a poultry expert, but growing up on a farm, where we grew our own chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, etc., in a free-range setting, I couldn't help but learn a few things about what makes chickens tick, and what makes them happy, unhappy, etc. This is strictly my opinion, but their "Scorecard Criteria" appear to be written strictly from the viewpoint of an animal rights proponent, rather than a practical way to access the quality of the eggs produced, (and to some extent, the quality of the living environment for the birds themselves).

For example, the first category is Ownership Structure of the business. What difference does it make who owns the business, and how they are classified with the IRS as a business entity? Hint: The Cornicopia Institute promotes the concept of single-family farming, and abhors other business entities engaged in farming enterprises.

The second category is "Organic Certifying Agency". IOW, if a business isn't certified by one of the Institute's "preferred" certifying agencies, they are penalized. I didn't look into the details of the operating jurisdiction of all these agencies, but it's certainly possible for a business to fall outside of the operational area of many/most of these "preferred" agencies, and in that case, they would be penalized through no fault of their own, other than to be located in an area not served by a "preferred" certifying agency.

The third category is the "Egg Supply" category, and again, eggs that do not come from a a single-family farm are penalized. (How many times should they be penalized because of the type of the business entity?) It is a fact of life that a single-family farm cannot produce enough eggs to feed the world, but rather than to acknowledge the reality of that, and recognize the limitations of the single-family farm operating environment, the institute "double-dips" when assigning penalties to other business entities.

On "Outdoor Access", there is a huge penalty for two-story henhouses. Well, I'll grant you, chickens can be just as lazy as humans, when it comes to climbing stairs or ramps to second stories, but is it really cruel and inhuman punishment to expect a chicken to climb a ramp a few feet to get into their quarters? Not in my opinion. Heck, they can fly up there if they don't want to walk. .

There's a substantial penalty for "Rotation of outdoor space", but the fact of the matter is, if there is more than adequate space to begin with, rotation is totally unnecessary, so why should anyone be penalized for providing more space than needed? (IOW, they need to add a category for that option).

I could nit-pick most of these categories, but I'm just hitting on a few that catch my eye as the most ridiculous, in the sense that they have nothing to do with the quality of the eggs, nor the quality of the living space for the birds themselves. In the category about "Other animals on pasture", for example, a maximum score is available only if other animals, (such as cows, goats, sheep, in their description), are also present and sharing the same pasture, and once again, (another example of double-penalties for the same presumed offense), the same facility is penalized for not rotating pastures. First off, the only benefits gained by allowing chickens to roam where other animals roam, is that the grazing animals keep the vegetation down, (which minimizes the need for mechanical mowing or shredding), and, (as any farm kid can tell you), it allows the chickens to scavenge the undigested grain from the manure of the other animals. Frankly, while that is an entirely "natural" and "organic" process, it never appealed to me, as a consumer of poultry flesh and eggs.

"Feed produced on farm" is another source of substantial penalties. What difference does it make where the feed is produced, so long as it is safe, and meets the organic certification specs?

Here's another purely animal rights category, "Laying Hen Lifespan". For a maximum score, the chickens have to die of old age, while "roaming the range". Well, that's certainly a considerate way to treat the birds, but does it really affect the quality of the eggs produced. It will certainly affect production, (since production will decline with advancing age), but it definitely isn't likely to improve the quality of the eggs produced.

At least that's my opinion, so the way you view these classifications depends on your priorities, (whether it's the quality of the food you eat, or the promotion of single-family farms, animal rights, or some combination). My take is that the Cornucopia Institute is designed to promote selected single-family farm operations and animal rights, with virtually no consideration of the actual quality of the eggs produced. Notice that nothing in the "Scorecard Criteria" actually addresses the quality of the eggs themselves, their grading, handling, storage, etc. Of course, that is implied in the approval process of certain certifying agencies, but trust me, having been certified as an organic processor for food corn, my experience is that inspections by organic certifying agencies, in most areas, are rather lax, and few and far between. They simply don't have the money to do it right.

Tex

[MBombardier]

You're welcome, Rosie! Have fun with the grands!!

Nope, Tex, I didn't look into it that far. Frankly, I'd prefer to buy eggs from a friend, but after I found out that they feed their chickens just about anything they will eat , I was not so excited about buying them anymore, and it made me wonder about the other people I know who sell eggs. I'd prefer to have my own chickens, like I did when I was a teenager. They roosted on a pole in the hayloft to be safe from possums and foxes, and there were nights when I had to flush the new ones out of the pear tree and into the barn, etc. One night I opened the door to the barn and there was a possum on top of the gate to the stalls next to me--eye-level and just a couple of feet away. Scared the bejeezus out of me.

I read some on the Cornucopia website, and they are advocates of single-family farms, no doubt about it, and I hear you on your criticism. My feeling is, though, that any oversight is better than no oversight. Everyone has to make their own decision. For me, I would rather buy organic eggs from a local producer with ratings that seem to indicate that they conform better to the government's organic standards, that I could actually visit if I wanted, than Trader Joe's with worse ratings and no idea, really, where the eggs are coming from. And local is cheaper...

I feel the same way about the chicken that I buy, which comes from small, local producers. I don't have that option with the beef I buy (we don't have the freezer space anymore to go in on a locally-raised and butchered cow with friends) so I just try to make sure that the beef I buy is grass-fed, which up here, means it comes almost exclusively from eastern Oregon. Interestingly, the price is just pennies more than the anonymous beef I could buy in any grocery store.

I have spent most of my life in the Midwest, but have lived here in the Pacific Northwest for close to 10 years. It seems that people up here are more conscious of their food, but that could be a change across the country that has occurred in the last several years. What do you think?

[tex]

What do you think?

I think that people in the PNW, on the average, are more conscientious about what they eat, than people in most other areas of the country, at least that's the impression I get. I believe that most of us are more careful about what we eat, than we were in the past, but I truly believe that the PNW is ahead of the rest of us, in that aspect.

Tex

[MaggieRedwings]

Buy my eggs at the local Amish farmer and not sure what he feeds them but they are great and extra large eggs for $1.25/dozen can't be beat.

Have read on Cornucopia before and not in favor of them.

Maggie