Q & A Thursday: eggs
Posted by kathryn in Eggs
And the final question for today is from Paul:
Today I went to buy eggs at Coles and was confronted by ridiculous choice: cage eggs, free range eggs, barn eggs, eggs based on RSPCA standards, organic eggs, eggs from hens fed grains/legumes only etc. Similar issues apply when buying chicken these days. Putting aside the ethical factor for the moment, any thoughts on what are better nutritionally?
The only difference with eggs is in the Omega-3 eggs that are now on sale. These hens are fed fish oil, which ensures their eggs are higher in Omega-3 essential fatty acids than normal eggs. Otherwise there’s little nutritional difference.
I’ve written about eggs a couple of times before. There’s more about the nutritional value of eggs here and this post is about the ethical differences between the eggs. The latter also references an article by Paula Goodyer, again about the ethical differences.
07 June, 2007
Comments
What should be pointed out with these Omega-3 eggs, however, is that the source of this fish oil is bait fish harvested in massive numbers from the oceans. These are an essential part of the food chain for many marine animals, and their removal from the oceans for these purposes (along with fish farming) is an environmental disaster.
Thanks for visiting and commenting Simon. There are now about twice as many chickens in the world as humans and feeding, housing and dealing with this number of creatures creates a whole series of ethical and environmental problems.
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