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dragonlady7via http://ift.tt/1VZNIqu:
Well, as the article points out– pasture-raised is the gold standard. It at least means the chickens are outdoors and have theoretical access to insects and the like.
Your best bet is to go to the farmer’s market, if you have one, and ask questions. Different farmer’s markets also have wildly different standards! The one my sister’s farm sells at has very stringent requirements; vendors can only sell things they produce. Other markets don’t have requirements like that, so the vendors could well be selling grocery-store eggs. Asking is the only way to know for sure.
(To give perspective, at my sister’s farm the chickens are pastured on fields on the farm, and they have a rolling coop that is moved weekly to fresh pasture so that their supply of grass, weeds, insects, etc. is frequently renewed. For these animals, plants, seeds, leaves, insects and even rodents and small snakes are a normal and healthy part of their diet; their scratching and dust-bathing helps till the soil and kill weeds, and their manure fertilizes the soil, and they are part of the rotation of crops and livestock on the farm. Other farms are less stringent about moving the chickens, but do make sure they have access to grass. If the chickens are penned in one place, they will within a month or so have the area stripped down to bare dirt. This is still better than an indoor space, but it’s not as nice. Legally, though, there’s no difference.)
(I was shocked because I thought free-range meant more than it does. But, knowing chickens– if “free range” really meant they freely roamed around, they would mostly be dead, because chickens are delicious and everything eats them.)
In terms of the eggs being safe to eat, normally a spoiled egg will be obviously bad. There’s actually not much that can be done to make an egg not safe, because they’re sealed packages! Whether the exteriors are washed or not is more or less superficial in terms of safety. Just, keep all eggs refrigerated unless you’re very confident in the source and you know the eggs are unwashed and have never been chilled. (Once chilled, keep chilled.)
And don’t eat them raw, unless, again, you’re supremely confident. (Most dangerously, chickens can harbor salmonella– but it makes them sick too, so the producer would know within a relatively short time period if their chickens had it– but there’s nothing legislating this. I know my sister wouldn’t sell her eggs in that case, but other producers might. It’s a hard living.)
Well, as the article points out– pasture-raised is the gold standard. It at least means the chickens are outdoors and have theoretical access to insects and the like.
Your best bet is to go to the farmer’s market, if you have one, and ask questions. Different farmer’s markets also have wildly different standards! The one my sister’s farm sells at has very stringent requirements; vendors can only sell things they produce. Other markets don’t have requirements like that, so the vendors could well be selling grocery-store eggs. Asking is the only way to know for sure.
(To give perspective, at my sister’s farm the chickens are pastured on fields on the farm, and they have a rolling coop that is moved weekly to fresh pasture so that their supply of grass, weeds, insects, etc. is frequently renewed. For these animals, plants, seeds, leaves, insects and even rodents and small snakes are a normal and healthy part of their diet; their scratching and dust-bathing helps till the soil and kill weeds, and their manure fertilizes the soil, and they are part of the rotation of crops and livestock on the farm. Other farms are less stringent about moving the chickens, but do make sure they have access to grass. If the chickens are penned in one place, they will within a month or so have the area stripped down to bare dirt. This is still better than an indoor space, but it’s not as nice. Legally, though, there’s no difference.)
(I was shocked because I thought free-range meant more than it does. But, knowing chickens– if “free range” really meant they freely roamed around, they would mostly be dead, because chickens are delicious and everything eats them.)
In terms of the eggs being safe to eat, normally a spoiled egg will be obviously bad. There’s actually not much that can be done to make an egg not safe, because they’re sealed packages! Whether the exteriors are washed or not is more or less superficial in terms of safety. Just, keep all eggs refrigerated unless you’re very confident in the source and you know the eggs are unwashed and have never been chilled. (Once chilled, keep chilled.)
And don’t eat them raw, unless, again, you’re supremely confident. (Most dangerously, chickens can harbor salmonella– but it makes them sick too, so the producer would know within a relatively short time period if their chickens had it– but there’s nothing legislating this. I know my sister wouldn’t sell her eggs in that case, but other producers might. It’s a hard living.)
