What to Know: Store Bought vs. Farm Fresh Eggs
What's the Difference?
You may have seen our pictures of colorful eggs on social media, seeing the price tag and wondering, "What's the difference?" There's actually more than you may think! Take the picture above. Can you tell which one is the store bought and which is the farm fresh? Besides the colors, there's even more!
Time:
- The USDA recommends eating eggs within five weeks of the laying date. By law, an egg can be sold for up to 30 days after the date it was put in the carton. And farmers have up to 30 days to go from when the egg is laid to the carton. That means those supermarket eggs can be two months old by the time you buy them. That is already outside of the five week window of nutritious eggs.
- At 4G farm we grab eggs nightly, putting them in packages and delivering within 1-3 days of collecting the eggs. That means that by the time you get it, you still have 4.5 weeks to eat them for the freshest egg!
Nutritional Value:
- Egg yolks have gotten a bad rap recently, but it might just be the age of the egg causing the “unhealthy” aspect. Studies show several advantages to farm-fresh eggs, including less cholesterol, less saturated fat, increased vitamins A, E and D, more omega-3 fatty acids, and more beta-carotene.
Salmonella:
- Eggs sold in a grocery store have been pasteurized and cleaned with a cleaning agent. This removes the possibility of salmonella (poop from an infected hen coming in contact with the egg and the egg not being cooked enough). The chances of contracting salmonella are much lower when the farmer knows which hens are laying which eggs and the overall health of their flock. We will sell the eggs to you water-washed but a slight scrub by you will take away all chances of salmonella (although we know our chickens are healthy so we do not stress too much about it!).
Cooking Comparison:
- You may not notice when cooking the flavor difference in eggs from the farm or from your grocery store, but you might notice when doing the cooking. The yolks have a richer and deeper color while the whites are stiffer and hold together better. This makes cooking easier, your cookies may rise better (though still try not to overbeat the eggs!), the cakes will taste richer, and you know its healthier for you.
Chicken Treatment:
- By knowing your farmer and seeing the way the chickens are raised, you can know that the animal was raised humanely. They had a good life up until their "no good very bad day". Unfortunately some large farms are so removed from the daily care of the animal they do not see the mistreatment that can occur such as beak-cutting, starvation to force molting, or other dietary restrictions. I do truly believe that if farmers are more involved in the day to day care this treatment would not happen, but some farms are just so large.
- Chickens are proven to be healthier when able to forage for themselves and participate in normal chicken activities, such as dust bathing and nightly roosting. If you ever want to see how our chickens are raised, feel free to message us asking questions. We are proud of our answers!