Image it: you’re standing within the dairy aisle on the grocery retailer, about to seize a dozen eggs. It needs to be a straightforward merchandise to examine off your record—however you’re shortly overwhelmed by what appears like 1,000,000 choices. All of a sudden, it looks as if you’re taking a check you didn’t research for as an alternative of selecting up a weekly staple.
I’ve actually been there. If me, I like eggs, and eat them every time the chance arises (aka nearly each day, 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 search 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 once 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 instructed me. He defined that, whereas the time period “free-range” is federally regulated, the USDA’s tips are usually not detailed sufficient to belief these phrases alone. That’s why a 3rd occasion certifier, just like the “Licensed Humane” label, is one of the simplest ways to know you’re actually getting free-range eggs. “With out a robust third occasion certifier…hens will be confined to screened-in porches or cement and nonetheless be thought-about 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, manner again in 2003.
Up to now, I received it. My subsequent query was about cage-free. Is that no good? Seems, probably not. “Cage-free hens, usually housed in giant industrial buildings containing lots of of hundreds of hens, dwell inside metal aviary techniques and don’t go outdoors,” Kevin mentioned. “Free-range hens, alternatively, have “free vary” to maneuver about each inside their barns and outdoor within the pasture.”
I beloved the sound of that. Much more, I beloved that he referred to the hens as “our women,” and instructed me that, as a result of they’re outdoors not less than 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, shiny 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 buddy 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 positive sufficient: Nellie’s yolks have been brighter, and once they have been able to eat, that they had 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 women”: these farmers actually care about their livestock, and so they produce a greater product due to it.
If all this scrumptious, free-range egg discuss has you craving an omelet, properly, identical. Listed below are some recipes to get you began—together with just a few of the non-omelet selection, too.
An fanatic for higher eggs and activists for increased animal welfare requirements throughout your complete business, 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.
