In 2008 my family will begin to experiment in recycling, growing our own produce, reducing our energy consumption, perhaps becoming a little greener, more organic, and hopefully more self-sufficient.
Most of us know of the awful reality of caged egg-laying hens. Back in November after a bit of research I decided that the time had come to move to barn eggs, this month after further reading we have moved to free-range eggs. I wanted to offer a quick run down of the information I have gleaned whilst making the decision for my family.
There seems to be four categories, eggs from caged hens, eggs from hens that reside in a barn, free-range eggs, and finally organic eggs. Here’s a brief description of the conditions for each type of bird;
Caged
Hens are housed in stacked cages with the equivalent of an A4 sheet of paper in which to move around. The warehouses are usually without windows and the birds have no access to outside space. Caged hens produce 66% of the UK’s eggs.
Barn
Hens can roam around their barn but are not let outside, they are provided with perches, platforms, nestboxes and litter areas. Birds can share a barn with up to 16,000 others. 7% of eggs produced come via the barn system.
Free-Range
Birds are kept in barns with outdoor range space available for a minimum of eight hours a day. 27% of the UK’s eggs are free-range.
Organic
Hens producing organic eggs are always free range, they are fed an organic diet.
Price of Eggs
Eggs from Caged Hens (pack of 6) - £0.73
Eggs from hens reared in Barns (pack of 6) - £1.12
Free-Range Eggs (pack of 6) - £1.28
Organic Eggs (pack of 6) - £1.75
All prices are for medium eggs and are taken from a leading supermarket beginning with ‘T’
So there we have all the information required to make a direct comparison. As you would expect the price of the eggs increase as the conditions for the hens improve. The caged hens produce the cheapest eggs, free range hens are the most expensive and organic is really in another choice bracket altogether. The organic egg producing hens enjoy the same lifestyle as the free range hens and the only difference is the organic feed and organic land where they reside.
On learning of the awful conditions of caged hens, I decided that we could afford the move to barn eggs. We eat a box or less of eggs a week and that meant the difference was around 38p a week, or less. On first glance the price difference does seem fairly large (relatively) however when you look at the difference in living conditions I feel it is justified. This month whilst doing the weekly shop I was surprised to find that free range eggs were only 12p more than the barn eggs. We have now moved to free range, 12p is a small amount to pay to know that the food we are eating has come from an animal that has enjoyed as normal and comfortable a life as possible.
I expect to be making these decisions on a fairly regular basis over the next year as I investigate the benefits of living a greener, more sustainable and organic lifestyle. The dilemmas will come when we start to talk in pounds rather than pennies. Balancing the budget with the ethics is going to be an interesting challenge, but for now, the decision is pretty easy, a few pence more for a substantially superior product is going to get a yes every time.
Which eggs do you buy? Is your decision based on ethics, price, or both?
Information sources;
http://www.britegg.co.uk/ukeggs05/ukeggs2.html
http://www.vegansociety.com/html/animals/exploitation/hens.php
Photo by flickr user LynnInSingapore
10 Responses to “Eggs are Eggs - Or are they?”
I have a few things I always buy organic and eggs are one of them. The others are milk, bananas and tomato ketchup. I figure I can’t afford to buy all organic but I can do what I can, if you see what I mean. :o)
we buy free range. It’s a mix of being more ethical than the cheaper choices and also taht the eggs tend to be nicer - the hens are healthier and happier and therefore they produce better quality stuff.
We would love our own hens at some point but our garden isn’t suitable (solid clay is not good for tender little hen’s feet!)
Hi Anji, do you choose what produce to buy organic solely on flavour?
Well I read an excellent piece at the New York Times called Five Easy Ways To Go Organic. Even though it’s an American article I found it still relevant here in the UK. It lists milk, potatoes, peanut butter, ketchup and apples as things which your choice to go organic really can make an impact.
There are so many hormones and other yucky things in non-organic milk, I shudder at the thought of drinking it nowadays. So of course cheese, butter etc had to go organic here where possible as well. With all my other dairy coming from organic sources, and the guarantee that organic will always be free-range, I made that switch too.
Bananas are my toddler son’s staple food - even when he is poorly and refusing everything else, he will still accept a banana. So that was what steered my choice to buy bananas organic as well.
I find Heinz organic ketchup tastes much nicer than their non-organic version, and organic milk is delicious. Somehow it tastes ‘fresher’ (though of course that could be psychological!).
Thanks for highlighting this - hard to believe it’s legal to keep hens in the conditions you describe. I’ve always tried to buy free-range wherever possible - after reading your posting I’ll be extra-sure to make that effort.
I wonder what the difference between the eggs are here–there’s a place north that sells the blue and green kind that I love for looks AND for the taste
I don’t know, different hens maybe??
I buy organic free-range eggs, a decision that is not ethics-based, but health-based. The eggs have much higher Omega 3 fatty acid content, higher Vitamin E, higher beta-carotene. No antibiotics or hormones. The higher price is well worth giving my family a much more nutritious product.
In the US, at least, one of the reasons that organic tastes better for things like ketchup and peanut butter is that the organic varieties do not contain High Fructose Corn Syrup. This thick, cheap sweetener stabilizes the product (so the oil from the peanuts won’t separate from the “butter” for example) but it makes things incredibly sweet. I try to avoid the HFCS whenever possible — and it is shockingly in bread, yogurt, crackers, even many things you would want to be savory such as mushroom pastries — so I end up buying the “organic” versions of many packaged goods.
Milk and meat/poultry would seem to me to be the most important to buy organic from the standpoint of avoiding hormones added to things, and that’s the recent thing I’m investigating as a switch for our family. I do think free-range eggs are important too. Isn’t it hard to make these decisions…how to do what’s best for one’s family and for the world takes a lot of research!
It does take time….. we are looking at chicken now, there’s been a lot of coverage in the UK over the past month which has provided food for thought…literally!!