FOOD: WHAT'S IN YOUR EGGS?

We buy fresh food at the supermarket, cook it up for our families, and feel good that we're giving them the best nutrition. But is the food we are buying truly nutritious?

In my last two or so years or researching why we should raise our own chickens (John really doesn't want to go through THAT again, but I win!), I wish I could post a billboard in front of every grocery store, telling people what they are getting for their dollar.

Take eggs for example.

All supermarket eggs are a product of a poultry factory. Hens are kept in cramped "battery cages" where there is only one foot of space per bird. They never see the sun, the fumes are so toxic that if a power outage happens, they'll suffocate, and they are fed a rich mix of corn, soybeans, cottonseeds, a cocktail of antibiotics to keep them alive in something only comparable to the bowels of a slave ship, and when they're luck, a dead neighbor.

This is a recent phenomenon. In the past, chickens spent most of the day scratching for bugs in their enclosed coop (because nature LOVES to send predators along to wipe them out!) and eating whatever the farmer tossed to them. The liberated ones had free run of the farm and hopefully a good predator system to keep them safe.

That's all well and good, but what does that mean to you and your diet?

Here is the breakdown of what pasture-raised eggs versus factory raised eggs provide. These results are from tests done by Mother Earth News in 2007.

NUTRIENT ........ FACTORY....PASTURED..... DIFFERENCE
Beta Carotene... 10 mcg vs. 79.03 mcg .. 7 times more
Vitamin A.......... 487 IU vs. 781 mcg........ 2/3 more
Vitamin E........... .97 mg vs. 3.73 mg.... 3 times more
Omega 3 ........... .22 g vs. .66 g.......... 2 times more

Cholesterol.......... 423 mg vs. 277 mg.....1/2 LESS
Saturated Fat........ 3.1 g vs. 2.4 g......... 1/4 LESS

source: Mother Earth News Egg Graph

For a really educational read, check out the Mother Earth article on why truly free range chickens are best:
Meet Real Free Range Eggs

To put all of this into perspective, you would have to eat 3-7 regular eggs to gain the nutrition and taste of one grass-raised egg. Even better, you would have to buy 3-7 cartons of $3 eggs to match the nutrition of one $4-5 carton of grass-raised eggs. If your goal is to actually feed your family, not just fill them up, the grass-raised eggs are the most economical buy.

I can't wait until our little heritage Barred Plymouth Rock hens start producing!