There’s a big disclosure today of another animal cruelty undercover investigation, this one involving egg-laying hens.
The Humane Society of the United States says it is “shining a light on the dark world of suffering for millions of egg-laying hens.” It does that through an undercover investigation of big producer Kreider Farms, which the organization says “confines millions of hens inside barren battery cages that are so cramped, the animals can barely move an inch for their entire lives.”
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof broke the news of the investigation in a column today. He expressed outrage about the treatment of the chickens, suggesting it made him lose his appetite for eggs. “Granted, it is not easy to settle on what constitutes cruelty to animals. But cramming 11 hens for most of their lives into a cage the size of an oven seems to cross a line. Somehow, fried eggs dont taste so good if you imagine the fetid barn in which they were laid.”
I agree, but I wish he had gone a step further and considered the impact of the inhumane treatment of the animals inevitably on the nutritional quality of the eggs they produce. It always amazes me that we as a society associate quality, and cost, of products like sweaters or cars, with the quality of their raw materials, the attention to detail of assembly, the treatment of the workers and other such qualitative factors. Yet food we assume is all the same. And as a result of that attitude, cheaper seems inevitably better, so places like Kreider Farms keep trying to cut costs any way they can, including what they do for the hens.
The whole qualitative thing is something that is pretty obvious with eggs. It shows up most obviously in the color of the yolk, which in good eggs is a deep orange. It also shows up in thicker shells, and more of a noticeable egg yolk taste. Just as with real milk, signs of quality becomes apparent pretty quickly, in the cream line, the taste, and the presence of a yellowish hue, signifying high amounts of beta carotene from cows grazing on grass.
Over the last few years, I’ve become as attuned to my eggs maybe as my milk. I try to scout out producers that allow their chickens to roam about and eat grass and weeds and bugs and worms.
Just yesterday I was at the Upper Valley Food Co-op in White River Junction, VT, for the express purpose of buying eggs. When I can’t get to one of the farmers markets where I like to buy eggs, I try to go to the Upper Valley Food Co-op because it carries eggs from more than 30 different local producers. It has a chart on the wall with key information about each producer–what the chickens are fed, whether the feed is organic, what kind of housing the chickens are provided, and whether they get outside. At any one time, there are eggs from maybe a half dozen of the providers, though sometimes there are just two or three. Yesterday was a good day, with eggs from about eight producers, and I bought eggs from three different farms that all indicated they allow the chickens to get outside and that they have a varied diet that includes some grass, and in one case table scraps. The first few eggs I’ve tried look and taste very good.
I tried some supposedly “pastured” eggs available at Whole Foods a while back. I think they came from Texas, but I found them pretty disappointing in appearance and taste. Makes sense–it must be difficult to mass produce pastured eggs on a scale appropriate for Whole Foods.
But to the point of nutritional quality, there are some recent research findings indicating that real pastured eggs have much higher levels of key nutrients than the factory items as in 50 per cent more naturally occurring vitamin E and three times more beta carotene, all present with one-third less cholesterol and one-fourth less saturated fat.
We know well that cattle, pigs, and chickens produce varying quality meat, depending not only on their breed and how they’ve been fed, but likely how they’ve been treated. A few farmers I know say they raise their animals “with love,” in part because it leads to better quality meat, and they try to avoid difficult rides to the slaughter house.
So while basic decency would suggest you don’t mistreat chickens or any other animals, I’d say there is another equally compelling reason–to improve the quality of the food they produce. That’s a difficult concept to get across in a food system dominated by factory producers that would rather people not think about such distinctions.
These are real pastured organic eggs that come from chickens grazed on pastures that have been grazed by OPDC milk cows. The flavor is terrific and the yokes are CAL-Trans Safety Vest Orange.
We decided to stop selling our eggs at a loss at $6 per dozen and just charge what we needed for a profit. We soak all grain in raw milk prior to feeding and the shells are extra hard as a result of the raw milk. The chickens are moved every two days to fresh pastures and they are protected by an electric fence and a guard dog.
I just finished reading all about cancer diets and prevention of cancer. We have a close family friend in Denmark that is suffering from cancer and my wife Blaine just left for 10 days to help treat him with a super hard hitting WAP, GAPS and specialized anti cancer diet. Danish medicine has written him off. We will see what happens…
At the core of this question….why wait to have cancer…start an anti cancer diet right now. Live your life with an anti cancer diet!!
What is an anticancer diet? It is the GAPS, WAP, raw milk, whole food, anti oxidant, fermented foods diet and get rid of those sugars and anything processed.
As a society we are all so reactive. Wait to get a randomly issued CANCER death warrant prior to doing anything proactive as if it is a grand game of Russian Roullette with your life. It is not a game of Russian Roullette…unless you stay with the FDA and processed garbage. Cancer and illness is fairly predictable…
Each well be well….when your GUT is well you are well!!
Real rocket science. Love those bright orange yokes and hard shell eggs!!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.486072021180.296218.171911861180&type=3#!/photo.php?fbid=10150100612116181&set=a.486072021180.296218.171911861180&type=3&theater
Mark
Would be great if all producers of plant and animals do this.
The link for ‘research findings’ isn’t working.
Thanks Deborah. Hopefully the link is working in the body of the post as well.
Wow, $9 a dozen. That’s most I’ve ever heard…but as you suggest, it costs more to produce top-quality food. The encouraging news is that more people are coming to understand that basic truth. Equally important, as farmers learn about the revenue possibilities, they’ll be encouraged to do better.
In late fall and winter they molt and stop producing eggs for weeks – but they still eat, which costs even more because they aren’t getting free supplement greens and bugs from foraging.
Right now it costs us $32 for a 50 lb bag of organic feed. I’ve never tried to figure out what the cost per dozen is for us home chickeneers, but it’s certainly not cheap and I’m not surprised at the retail cost. We don’t have chickens because we want cheap eggs, it’s all about the quality and health benefits. Another hidden cost is losing some birds to the occasional fox or coyote attack, my neighbor just lost 3 of their egg layers and a duck. For the large scale producers, fencing and watch dogs as Mark does also figures into the cost, but it’s a must if you are going to be truly free range.
I believe you live in MA, and if you want an egg source closer to home I would recommend an organic farm near me in Wrentham on Rt 1A just a couple of miles north of 495. It’s called White Barn Farm, and they have eggs for sale along with high quality excellent produce. http://www.whitebarnfarm.org/
That website is a great resource.
Forgot to add that White Barn Farm sells their own eggs, free range and organic.
Educating people of how their foods are processed/raised/fed will cause the masses to speak out and push for change.
There’s a master’s thesis to be done by someone who’ll put together the figures since 1850 ( when they started sod-busting on the prairies ) co-relating prices of silver, gold, wheat, milk, eggs and fresh red meat, a glass of beer … etc. … with a workman’s wage for the day.
Jesus said “in that day a loaf of bread will go for a penny and a whole day’s wage for a penny” .. the denarius which he held up = the Roman standard coin … was then being debased as part of the age-old trick of the moneymasters. Not too long, now in Ham-merica, and a loaf of bread will be selling for $200 … if you can find one.
Kristen, so long as Joel is upfront about what he is feeding his chickens, the ultimate judgment as to whether his approach is acceptable comes from his customers. The ones who don’t want eggs from chickens fed soy won’t buy from him, and those who don’t mind or who want such eggs will buy. From all I can see, lots more are buying than not buying.
good healthy food is out of reach first and last because of a money system based in usury. It is indeed waay too late for reform of that situation. The genius of the truly free market is that it’s instaneous feedback … we pay $18.50 here in Vancouver for one gallon. That’s overdue to go up. In the 5 years we’ve been going, the price of silver quadrupled while our Agistment fee only went up 50% … nearly all of which goes to the gubmint as taxes. There’s your problem : keeping what you earn away from the parasites and predators.
From the land of Milk and Honey
In our area, the demand for eggs from soy and corn free chickens far exceeds the available supply.
It has been sobering for me to look at our costs-and in conversations with our producer neighbors-to realize that some farmers often cannot afford to purchase the very products they produce. Thankfully for many at least one family member still has a town job. It is tough to find cost effective sources of organic feeds, and even the conventional feeds to purchase or produce (oats, corn, soy, fodder) are climbing off the charts. Folks who are interested in nutrient dense food need to understand this—–And I dont even pretend to have answers .. .
This is a good thread
Just living the dream. . . . . . .
I personally think the elite name-calling was initiated by people who made their fortunes off of the industrial food system.
For the record, this “elite” local foodie finances her raw milk and grass fed eggs and meat by the savings from having given up soda, Doritos, Drakes cakes, and so on. Amazing how much food money is freed up when you stop wasting it on nutrition-free “edible food-like substances.” (H/T MP) It’s also amazing how much more you can save by making your own bone broths and lard and tallow. I suppose genuinely elite people often find themselves simmering bones for 48 hours and melting down suet. (Not.)
If you’re interested, my rant from last year on being elite:
http://www.latebloomersfarm.com/index.php/2011/05/just-another-elite-foodie/
As for farming, laying chickens give you by FAR the most bang for your buck. (buck buck buck) If you can have them, you certainly should. I could sell you pullets for $9 each and make a profit on that!
The Oregon outbreak sound like Dee Creek all over again.
Our ration contains mostly ground organic corn meal and also has some soy meal. BUT…we ferment the entire grain feed with old raw milk for 2 days prior to feeding it. We feel that is the best combination of practices to produce the best possible egg. The yokes are super orange. The chickens get pastures and living bugs and worms ( the vegans hate that part ).
My wife is in Denmark for 10 days….you all want to talk about choices and cost of food. Organic Pastured Eggs are cheap at $9 per dozen. In Denmark organic Almonds are at least $22 per pound. Meat….rob a bank. Go up to organic and rob three banks.
Americans have adjusted their budgets to pay for high cost health insurance, illness, nice cars, houses, clothes, etc…we have changed the priority of where our food fits into our budgets.
In America our food budgets are less than 14% of our total budgets. Most interestingly….40% of that budget goes to Star bucks,fast food or other not prepared at home food purchases.
http://budgeting.thenest.com/typical-percentages-household-budgets-3299.html
In Europe, food expenditures as part of the budget can range as high as 34% of budget.
When you consider quality of life and not getting cancer or illness….organic whole food is a bargain.
I was not taught so much about different qualities of foods and various cooking methods until we went to Germany. Our parents only teach what they know, mine were on a limited budget too., though we did have a garden and fruit trees. We had one credit card, for emergencies only.
I have since learned to make my own broth and am able to spend what I want on the foods I want. It does feel good to be able to do that and I am far from the ‘elite’ class. I can understand those who don’t have the money to buy the good foods. I wanted to buy the best foods for my kids, I was unable to because of lack of money and lack of knowledge of preparation.
The safety and quality of modern CAFO produced raw milk ( in my experience and opinion ) is effected very much also by the handling of the raw milk ( among many other things ).
These modern CAFO raw milks do not come from one CAFO. They come from 20-50 at a time and is entirely commingled. The biofilms that exist in the long transport systems ( truck tanks ), the milking systems of the CAFO, the hormones, antibiotics, high grain and silage use all add to the pathogen condition and load. When the FDA talks about unsafe raw milk….they are right when you consider raw milk when measured at the mega Land O Lakes, DFA, or Deans Foods Creamery just before the HTST pasteurizer.
That is why dairy direct farm tank raw milk from 50 years ago verses raw milk today from a local conventional CAFO dairy is so different and exceedingly unsafe when matched with the stripped naked American Immune system.
There are two raw milks in America. One for the PEOPLE ( and the farmer ) and One for the PASTEURIZER ( shelf life, lactose intolerance, allergies,farmer bankrupcty and Deans Foods Profits ).
The FDA squirms when they see this statement.
When I was at the farmers market in Sacramento last year, you could get organic pastured eggs for $4-7 per dozen.
As I said, we grew up on a farm and our parents taught us frugality. They also taught us to support small farmers (which most farmers markets are made up of). But truthfully (and this isn’t a jab to Mark, it’s just a fact) my Dad would not have considered Mark’s operation “small”. I think the key to defining some of the problems is that a line needs to be drawn for where “small farms” end and “bigger farms” start (leaving out, of course, the BigAg goons altogether). I guess Dad’s idea was that he had to stay within a certain budget for our animals and that drew the line keeping us a small producer (for local sales). We had chickens (layers which eventually became stewing hens), meat chickens, turkeys and guinea hens. We had one (sometimes two) Jersey or Devon milk cows for family use only, for the milk and cream.
He was also a rancher (raising Hereford breeder bulls and “fat cows” for slaughter, all grass fed) where he produced a much larger number. But that was a separate part of the farm entirely.
Gordon, you are so right, too, about the predatory gubment tax system. I use this quote often and I don’t know where it originated, but it says: first they tax what we earn and then they tax what we spend. Somehow that just seems wrong.
People are quick to complain about the price of food. But they often seem to think they have a right to higher quality food from a small farmer at the same price as the junk in the store. Junk produced on corporate operations enjoying efficiencies of scale that farmers won’t ever see.
In truth, the vast majority of farms undercharge for their food and do not keep up with the rate of inflation (statistically or in their own inputs even).
Here are a couple of interesting quotes from the above article.
… compared to other countries, there’s no other place on the planet that has cheaper food than the U.S. The 5.5% of disposable income that Americans spend on food at home is less than half the amount of income spent by Germans (11.4%), the French (13.6%), the Italians (14.4%), and less than one-third the amount of income spent by consumers in South Africa (20.1%), Mexico (24.1%), and Turkey (24.5%), which is about what Americans spent DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION, and far below what consumers spend in Kenya (45.9%) and Pakistan (45.6%).
“Thanks to U.S. government subsidies, between 1997 and 2005, factory farms saved an estimated $3.9 billion per year because they were able to purchase corn and soybeans at prices below what it cost to grow the crops. Without these feed discounts, amounting to a 5 to 15 percent reduction in operating costs, it is unlikely that many of these industrial factory farms could remain profitable.
By contrast, many small farms that produce much of their own forage receive no government money. Yet they are expected somehow to match the efficiency claims of the large, subsidized mega factory farms. On this uneven playing field, CAFOs may falsely appear to “outcompete” their smaller, diversified counterparts.”
Most consumers dont give a damn about the food that they eat as long as its cheap, it tastes good and is convenient. Our Governments have taken advantage of these vices, and have nurtured them via a cheap food policy that has encouraged intensive monoculture farming practices that are destructive to our environment and the foods that we consume.
The small family farm would have long ceased to exist if it werent for individual resourcefulness, off farm income and a willingness to produce food at a loss for the benefit of a chosen lifestyle.
Ken Conrad
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/calcium-full-story/index.html
I am assuming that the studies they did was with pasteurized milk. It would be interesting to see results with short term and long consumption of raw milk and also the comparison between raw/pasteurized and produce consumption for calcium levels and effects on health.
I had read that the body better absorbs calcium from greens than from milk. I don’t recall where I read it.
For example: low Vitamin D, causes a multitude of issues, one is hypocalcemia; low vitamin D rarely leads to symptomatic hypocalcemia because the secondary increase in PTH compensates. So your blood levels of calcium will ‘look’ within normal range, unless the doctor does more detailed tests, you won’t know if your calcium levels are affected by the low vitamin D levels.
The PTH (Parathyroid hormone) will pull calcium from the bones to compensate for low blood calcium levels, leaving the potential for osteoporosis. This calcium has to go somewhere, if it isn’t excreted in urine or feces then it is deposited in other tissues, joints and/or soft tissues (arteries) The vitamin K2 acts as a traffic guard directing calcium where to go, so if it is low, the calcium goes anywhere. All nutrients (vitamins & minerals) work together to maintain the body’s environment. I am not aware of any vitamin working all by itself.
Since this article is about eggs and chicken, I thought I’d post something here that I read yesterday and posted at my forum, too. It’s absolutely amazing to me what people will come up with to rationalize things. Just amazing! Here’s what I posted:
“I wouldn’t follow ANY of this advice if my life depended on it – and it does. These answers are the biggest myths of all.
http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/beware-meat-myths-150000645.html
Don’t wash chicken because it will get your sink dirty and you’ll have to wash out the sink????? Really? Heh! Have you ever heard such ridiculous logic? Anytime I rinse meat, whether it’s chicken or pork or whatever, I CLEAN THE SINK WITH BLEACH when I’m done. I wonder if there are any cooks out there who don’t?? So instead of washing the germs from possibly three dozen or more sets of hands that have probably touched that chicken from the time it left the farm until it made its way to your kitchen you’re not gonna wash them off?!!!! Hells bells. Yeah, so the butcher decided to pick his nose whilst butchering your chicken (just an example of course!). Ewwwwwww.
And I don’t buy meat at the store anymore if I can help it. That picking their nose thing has a lot to do with why I don’t.
And believe me, America’s Test Kitchen is NOT who I would rely on for advice. Nor would I depend on the USDuh to give me competent advice either. You can bet your saddle blanket on that.”
some things that I wouldn’t have thought I’d see in this day and age. Pills do have their place, I feel they
are handed out like candy and much of the health care in the US is poor.
I may be repeating what you already know,,,
Cholesterol is a sterol, a major part of all cell membranes. It originates in the body in two main ways.
1.) diet Cholesterol from foods are ingested and absorbed in the intestinal tract, in the blood it is
encapsulated by a protein called chylomicron.
2.) liver The liver regulates the amount of circulating cholesterol in the blood. It removes the chylomicron
encapsulated cholesterol from the blood. The liver can also produce and secrete cholesterol. Ingestion
of cholesterol activates the liver to remove chylomicrons from circulating blood. Before and after meals,
when cholesterol is not readily available, the liver will manufacture and secrete certain amounts of
cholesterol into the circulation of the blood. The liver is responsible for the production of approximately 25% of cholesterol used by the body. The rest of the cholesterol utilized must be ingested and absorbed.
Your liver regulates the amount of cholesterol in your blood. In the liver cholesterol is converted to bile,
and is stored in the gallbladder. Bile aides in the absorption of fats and vitamins when ingested. It is also
needed in the synthesis of vitamin D and other hormones. Cholesterol is not a bad thing.
I would think that what you consume does effect your blood levels. For example: I’ve had patients who
refused the cholesterol lowering medications (smart on their part) and lowered the levels by eating old
fashioned oatmeal daily for 1-2 months. They didn’t change any other part of their life style. It didn’t
work for all, but appeared to work for most. My understanding is that the oats ( roughage) cause the
bile to be excreted and because the liver is limited on the amount of cholesterol it can produce, it pulls
cholesterol from the blood to produce more bile. (That is it in a nut shell)
Do you drink well water? The chemicals in most city water has effects on our bodies in so many ways. http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/1/49.abstract
http://www.ravnskov.nu/myth3.htm Reading all the various “information” pages makes me wonder
what is “normal”.
If the LFTs are elevated then the liver is being affected (medications do affect blood tests) and I would
want to know how it also affects the cholesterol levels? Are you getting a true reading or has the medication
and/or any illnesses affected the lab results? Illnesses can also affect lab results.
For example: CHF (congested heart failure) an exacerbation of CHF throws many of the labs off and may take anywhere from 4-8 weeks to come back to the patients ‘normal’ or their ‘new normal’.
Unfortunately todays medicine doesn’t allow doctors to investigate causes of illnesses, it’s here take a
pill and …next patient. Insurance dictates how medicine is run. Our bodies don’t get screwed up over
night and it can take months or years to put them back on a healthy track. I don’t know if I answered any of your questions, hope I at least helped in your search.
No, we don’t drink well water but we do have a ceramic filtering system we’ve been using for almost 10 years and I wouldn’t trade it for all the whiskey in Dodge. We have the best tasting, purest water ever, without taking out the minerals as RO systems can do.
http://www.mhprofessional.com/downloads/products/0071494561/MengelCh43.pdf
As said before, there is usually more than one thing contributing to anything ‘abnormal’. And what’s normal for one person may not be for another. Over the last years, it seems like there has been an increase in people with fatty liver, which isn’t surprising considering what the SAD is. There is a lot that the physicians just don’t know. Things are being discovered all the time. If everyone would have the courtesy to be exactly alike, it would be so much easier to figure things out.
My MD physician knows actually very little about the human body, I’m discovering. And I discover more with each passing year that they DON’T know.