Image it: you’re standing within the dairy aisle on the grocery retailer, about to seize a dozen eggs. It ought to be a simple merchandise to verify off your listing—however you’re rapidly overwhelmed by what appears like 1,000,000 choices. Immediately, it looks as if you’re taking a take a look at you didn’t research for as an alternative of selecting up a weekly staple.
I’ve actually been there. If me, I really like eggs, and eat them at any time when the chance arises (aka virtually daily, typically greater than as soon as). I need my eggs to style nice, and I care that they have been humanely raised. However even with love and good intentions, I don’t really know which labels imply that I’m getting what I need. So I made a decision to seek out out.
To get began, I talked to Kevin Phelps, VP of Farm Operations for Nellie’s Free Vary, which is a part of the Pete & Gerry’s household of manufacturers. I requested: is there some type of shortcut I can use after I purchase eggs? What are the magic phrases to search for?
“The ‘Licensed Humane’ label paired with the time period “free-range” is the sure-fire technique to observe down humanely raised eggs,” Kevin advised me. He defined that, whereas the time period “free-range” is federally regulated, the USDA’s tips usually are not detailed sufficient to belief these phrases alone. That’s why a 3rd get together certifier, just like the “Licensed Humane” label, is the easiest way to know you’re actually getting free-range eggs. “With out a robust third get together certifier…hens may be confined to screened-in porches or cement and nonetheless be thought of free-range,” he mentioned. He went on to elucidate that all the farmers within the Nellie’s and Pete & Gerry household of manufacturers observe the Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC) Licensed Humane Pasture-Raised or Free-Vary requirements—and that they have been really the primary egg producer within the nation to achieve that standing, approach again in 2003.
Thus far, I bought it. My subsequent query was about cage-free. Is that no good? Seems, not likely. “Cage-free hens, sometimes housed in massive industrial buildings containing a whole bunch of 1000’s of hens, reside inside metal aviary methods and don’t go outdoors,” Kevin mentioned. “Free-range hens, then again, have “free vary” to maneuver about each inside their barns and outdoor within the pasture.”
I cherished the sound of that. Much more, I cherished that he referred to the hens as “our ladies,” and advised me that, as a result of they’re outdoors at the very least six hours a day at a naked minimal (excepting excessive climate, in fact) and might have interaction in instinctual behaviors like scratching, taking mud baths, and foraging for worms and grubs, they find yourself happier, which in flip produces thicker shells, vivid orange yolks, and viscous whites of their eggs.
Lastly glad that I knew what to do within the egg aisle, I mentioned goodbye to my new farm pal and went again to the shop. As a fast experiment, I picked up Nellie’s Licensed Humane Free-Vary eggs in addition to one other carton that was labeled solely “cage-free.” I cracked each eggs alongside one another, blended them each into omelets, and certain sufficient: Nellie’s yolks have been brighter, and once they have been able to eat, they’d a richer style.
Nellie’s and Pete & Gerry’s household of manufacturers has greater than 200 household farms throughout 14 states—all sufficiently small for every household to handle the operations on their very own. I believe which may clarify using “our ladies”: these farmers actually care about their livestock, they usually produce a greater product due to it.
If all this scrumptious, free-range egg discuss has you craving an omelet, nicely, identical. Listed here are some recipes to get you began—together with a couple of of the non-omelet selection, too.
An fanatic for higher eggs and activists for greater animal welfare requirements throughout the complete trade, Nellie’s Free Vary, a Licensed B Corp, furthers its mission by contemplating individuals, planet, and revenue in all their selections, main with kindness at each flip.
