A Southwest Wisconsin hen-house raising young birds for Organic Valley. The house confines the hens, granting no outdoor access whatsoever, and provides virtually no natural light in the building. Photo by the Cornucopia Institute

If you’re family is anything like mine, then you didn’t even blink when the recent half billion egg recall was announced. Maybe like us, you haven’t eaten a conventional egg in years. When the recall was announced, I knew we had nothing to worry about with the organic, pasture-raised eggs I get from the farm market every week—even when we eat them raw in smoothies.

But finding eggs that are safe, nutritious and humanely raised can be a challenge for many people. Approximately 98% of all eggs purchased in the U.S. come from battery cage hens, and labels such as “Farm Fresh” and “All Natural” can be misleading, as they indicate nothing regarding animal welfare, what the animals are fed, or how nutritious (or potentially dangerous!) the eggs are likely to be.

And while I am quite aware that organic standards are far from perfect, I do buy organic eggs from the grocery store from time to time, when my local farmer is out—secure in the knowledge that the organic label means they come from happier, healthier hens.

Or so I thought…

Apparently, even certified organic eggs can come from hens living in inhumane factory conditions—making their eggs both a nutritionally and ethically inferior product. The photo above is just one shocking example of conditions that many “organic” hens must endure, details of which are laid out in a damning new report by The Cornucopia Institute called Scrambled Eggs, detailing the conditions in industrial-scale organic egg production.

The report is the culmination of two years of research in which the Institute visited over 15% of the certified organic egg farms in the United States, and surveyed all name-brand and private-label industry marketers. Its findings demonstrated a huge dichotomy between the best-practice husbandry exhibited by many small and medium-sized organic egg producers, and the bare-minimum standards followed by many industrial-scale operations.

According to the Cornucopia Institute:

“Imagine 80,000 laying hens in a single building, crowded in confinement conditions, on “farms” with hundreds of thousands or a million birds. Is that organic?

How about a tiny enclosed concrete porch, accessible by only 3%-5% of the tens of thousands of birds inside a henhouse. Does that pass as outdoor access as required by federal organic law?

Industrial-scale egg producers are gaming the system, producing “organic” eggs in huge factory farms, crowding tens of thousands of chickens in two-story buildings with small porches passing as “outdoor access.”

Some of the factory farms don’t even bother with the phony-baloney porches—they have notes from their veterinarian saying (and we wish we were making this up), “Don’t let your birds outside; it would be hazardous to their health.”

These industrial-scale producers, with their livestock management shortcuts, are placing family-scale organic farmers at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace. Some pasture-based organic farmers have already been driven out of the organic egg business.”

Chickens confined in this building, which houses pullets (young birds) for Organic Valley, have no outdoor access whatsoever. Photo by The Cornucopia Institute

The Real Food community has an opportunity to reverse this scandal and support authentic organic agriculture. The USDA’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) will be debating the meaning of outdoor access and stocking densities for organic poultry and other livestock at the upcoming meeting in Madison, Wis., October 25-28.

The NOSB’s Livestock Committee has already submitted a proposal that would require at least two square feet of outdoor space per bird—a proposal that is vehemently opposed by industrial-scale producers whose tiny porches would no longer pass as legitimate outdoor access under this new rule.

The USDA is hearing from the well-funded and organized industry lobbyists. We must ensure that they also hear from the Real Food community!

This means you and me!

What Kind of Eggs Should I Buy?

So, if you can’t even trust certified organic eggs anymore, how do you know what kind of eggs are safe, nutritious and humane?….

Read the full story »