How to Read Label on Eggs
Who doesn’t love eggs? You can make them almost any way and add them to any meal. Fried egg on avocado toast, scrambled eggs for a frittata, or poached eggs on benedicts. It can be confusing to purchase eggs though. How do we know if we need cage free, pasture raised, organic, etc.? Let’s discuss what each of these mean and which is the best to buy.
We’ll start with organic, as that seems to be the most controversial term. When you purchase organic eggs this means the hens that laid the eggs have been raised eating organic feed, without any antibiotics or growth hormones, and they were able to roam outdoors at times. A carton of eggs labeled free-range means the hens had unlimited access to food and ability to roam outdoors.
This being said, there is no food or outdoor standard (aka they might have a very small area to roam with no grass and they might not be fed an organic diet). A pastured label means the hens were able to roam free in a pasture, which also means they are eating a diet higher in grass. These eggs have higher Vitamin A content and are typically lower in fat and cholesterol. Omega-3 fortified eggs means the hens that laid the eggs were given added fish oil, flax seed, and micro-algae in their diet. Lastly, let’s discuss the color of the eggs. Does is matter if you are buying white or brown eggs?! There is no nutritional difference between white or brown eggs, the color is simply based on the color of the hen that laid the eggs.
Okay, now we know the breakdown of the labels, but still which eggs do we buy? Pasture raised are typically the most humane and contain the nutrients we need, in fact you can look for a label “Certified Humane” on the pasture raised packaging. Pastured organic is actually even better, but often times the organic seal is expensive to obtain. Get to know your local farmers at the farmers markets to find out more about how they raise their hens and purchase the eggs locally to know exactly where they came from.
Sources:
“The Nutritious Life Studio”