Buzz
Eggs are both straightforward and intricate. They're one of the easiest foods to master cooking, yet can be made in an infinite variety of intriguing and sophisticated ways. From a scientific viewpoint, they're truly fascinating, packed with proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and a few essential minerals. With their two distinct parts, eggs are like a food that offers two benefits in one.
Eggs come from chickens, and the diet and care of these chickens can influence the taste and nutritional value of the eggs. The terms you see on an egg carton are meant to assist you in making informed choices when buying eggs, but not all of these labels are as informative as they might seem.
Egg-related Terms That Are Completely Meaningless
These are terms you can disregard, as they are just marketing jargon without any real significance.
Fresh or Farm Fresh: Even if the eggs were processed, packed, and shipped immediately after leaving the chicken, this term becomes less meaningful over time. (The FDA grading system already addresses freshness, more on that soon.)
Natural: There's nothing unnatural about eggs—that's simply what eggs are.
Hormone-Free or No Added Hormones: The FDA prohibited the use of added hormones in egg-laying chickens over six decades ago. Hormones are naturally present in all living creatures, but according to upcertified.com, “no growth or production hormones are ever given to pullets (young hens) being raised to lay eggs or during the egg-laying process.”
Egg-related Terms That Do Have Meaning but Aren't Super Useful
These are terms that, while technically accurate, shouldn’t necessarily influence your decision when purchasing eggs.
Brown: This simply refers to the eggshell color, which you can easily determine by looking inside the carton. The shell color doesn’t affect the taste or nutritional content.
Omega-3: The chicken that laid the egg ate food containing omega-3 fatty acids, but that doesn’t mean a significant amount of it made it into the egg.
Cage-Free: The chickens that laid these eggs were not confined to cages, but that doesn’t mean they had access to the outdoors or weren't crowded in a tightly packed barn.
Fertile: These hens reproduced. (However, this offers no proven nutritional benefit.)
Egg-related terms that can actually provide meaningful insight about the egg (or the chicken that laid it)
At last, some truly useful details!
Free Range: As per certifiedhumane.org, the USDA defines “Free Range” as requiring “outdoor access” or “access to the outdoors.” This can sometimes mean access through a small hole with no full-body outdoor access and no set space requirement. However, eggs with the HFAC’s Certified Humane® “Free Range” label mean that the hens had at least two square feet of outdoor space per bird, and spent a minimum of six hours outdoors each day, weather permitting.
Pasture Raised: While there is no official legal definition for this term, the HFAC Certified Humane® “Pasture Raised” label is specific. It means no more than 1000 birds per 2.5 acres (108 sq. ft. per bird), and that the hens lived in rotating fields. According to certifiedhumane.org, “The hens must be outdoors year-round, with mobile or fixed housing where they can go inside at night to avoid predators, or for up to two weeks per year in extreme weather.”
Pesticide-Free: The chickens' feed was grown without the use of pesticides.
Vegetarian: The hens did not consume any meat, meaning they didn’t eat worms and were not foraging outdoors in the soil.
No Antibiotics: As noted by The Atlantic, “this label indicates that no antibiotics were used in the hens’ feed or water during their growth period or while they were laying eggs.” This doesn’t immediately impact the flavor or quality of the eggs, but buying antibiotic-free eggs supports farmers who are trying to prevent the overuse of antibiotics, which can lead to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Fewer antibiotics reduce the spread of such bacteria, which is something to be avoided.
What about ‘organic’?
According to organicconsumers.org, the USDA’s “National Organic Program” mandates that organic eggs come from chickens that are cage-free, fed an organic diet free of pesticides, managed without antibiotics or hormones, and have seasonal outdoor access. However, outdoor access can be a tricky concept to navigate in practice.
As shown in the 2018 PBS segment, the farms producing ‘organic’ eggs can vary greatly. Some hens truly experience a life straight out of a fairytale, foraging in the soil and basking in the sun, while others spend most of their lives in barns, only accessing ‘outdoor’ areas on porches.
However, this could change as the Biden administration is reexamining the previous administration’s stance that the USDA lacks the authority to set animal welfare standards. This could eventually “prevent the use of porches as outdoor space in organic farming practices.”
It’s worth noting that some experts, including a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine interviewed by PBS for the segment mentioned above, argue that keeping hens in enclosures such as porches is safer as it protects them from infections caused by wild birds.
If you are concerned about the type and amount of space provided to egg-laying hens, you can refer to the Cornucopia Institute’s Organic Egg Scorecard, which evaluates egg brands with the 'organic' label on a scale from one to five eggs, based on criteria such as access to outdoor space, indoor and outdoor space allocation, pasture rotation, and transparency.
Size and grading
Two of the most common and easily recognized labels you’ll find on an egg carton are its grade and size. According to the USDA, there are three consumer grades for eggs:
The United States (U.S.) Grade AA, A, and B. The grade is determined by the egg’s internal quality, as well as the appearance and condition of its shell. Eggs of any grade may vary in size (weight). U.S. Grade AA eggs feature thick, firm whites; high, round yolks that are nearly defect-free; and clean, unbroken shells.
Freshness also plays a role in determining the grade, with the USDA stating that only the “freshest and highest quality eggs will receive a Grade AA.” Most eggs sold in grocery stores are typically Grade A or AA; Grade B eggs are reserved for dried, frozen, or processed egg products.
Egg sizes vary from “peewee” to “jumbo,” with size being determined by the average weight per dozen:
Peewee eggs must weigh at least 15 ounces per dozen.
Small eggs must weigh at least 18 ounces per dozen.
Medium eggs must weigh at least 21 ounces per dozen.
Large eggs must weigh at least 24 ounces per dozen.
Extra-large eggs must weigh at least 27 ounces per dozen.
Jumbo eggs must weigh at least 30 ounces per dozen.
Most eggs in grocery stores are either large or extra-large, but it's possible to find medium eggs in cartons labeled as 'large,' as long as the average weight of all 12 eggs totals 24 ounces or more.
If all of this seems like too much to keep track of, you could always build your own chicken coop or buy eggs directly from a local farm. Eggs from local farms tend to have darker yolks and a richer flavor compared to factory-farmed eggs, not to mention they come with a satisfying sense of moral superiority. (Personally, I love the eggs from my dad’s chickens, though Vital Farms—rated highly on the Organic Egg Scorecard—comes in a very close second).
