Eggs in france

I did some research (i.e., a google search) and apparently the EU is banning the use of conventional cages for egg production starting in 2012. Granted, producers can still use "enriched cages," (from what I can gather, a cage big enough to fit 60 hens) but this still seems to me a step in the right direction.

From what I can gather, other member nations are already implementing the regs or passing stricter regs, so I would think the likelihood of being able to get "conventional cage-free" eggs is greater in France than say the US, and that alone would play a significant part in the superiority of French supermarket eggs to American supermarket eggs. (An example I pulled is that the Netherlands, 40% of egg producers use conventional cages while 90% of American producer uses these cages, and apparently the Netherlands are the #1 egg exporter in the EU).
 
Is this the unofficial cholesterol thread? And this coming from a guy who mixed gorgonzola crumbles into his "free range" japanese eggs yesterday. I thought about natto, and passed in lieu of a splash of junmai shu. Frikken awesome.
 
originally posted by Bill Lundstrom:
about $6/dozen depending on what market i am at.
Click to expand...

That is expensive. I usually pay in the $3-5 range, I think. Most of the vendors where I've bought my eggs in the past few years also have other products, so I just pay the total and go home happy, not worrying about what each item cost.
 
Best eggs I've had were from a woman selling them out of the trailer she lived in, behind a gas station, about 5 miles from here. It's too bad she's not interested in the profit motive or maybe she ate her laying hen, since that only lasted one summer.
 
originally posted by Brzme:
originally posted by Ned Hoey:
originally posted by Bill Lundstrom:

my favorite are these blue eggs (the shell is blue) they have thick yokes that have a deep orange color. kind of like a sunset. best i have ever had anywhere.
Click to expand...

The local egg farmers {chicken farmers?) around here INSIST the dark yolk is not a breed thing and is entirely diet dependent. Meaning that a very healthy diet may or may not cause the dark color, just depends what it consists of. I see it more in late winter/spring eggs than in summer/fall ones.
Click to expand...

Haaaa, romance...

Now facts.

Sourthern europe likes its eggs with very dark yellows tending to orange red.
So industrial growers use a very common and well known additive called canthaxanthine. Cheap efficient...
This comes naturally when hens eat a lot of corn, too.
Click to expand...

What was the romantic part?

It's about the diet, no? Corn, as you say can cause it, as can feeding them stuff high in beta carotene. OK, industry has found a cheap synthetic shortcut, but that fact, is not particularly relevant to why yolks vary
in color from small farms.
 
originally posted by Ned Hoey:

What was the romantic part?

It's about the diet, no? Corn, as you say can cause it, as can feeding them stuff high in beta carotene. OK, industry has found a cheap synthetic shortcut, but that fact, is not particularly relevant to why yolks vary
in color from small farms.
Click to expand...

True.

And it is not because a grower leaves in a small farm and his yolks are deep orange that he feeds his hens alright.
And the one who really does care about how he feeds his hens might not be the one who has the more coloured yolks.
According to my personal experience, appearance, along with posted intentions, is the worst of the criteria when it comes to organic/sustainable/ethic behaviour as long as farming is concerned.
That's what I call romance.
 
this question came up again this morning. While I would have preferred to solve the issue by emigration, I think we'll try Whole Foods first - it may be cheaper, although maybe not.
 
originally posted by Brzme:
And it is not because a grower leaves in a small farm and his yolks are deep orange that he feeds his hens alright.
Click to expand...

Well OK, while I suppose you could infer that I meant that, I didn't. OTOH around here anyway, small farmers don't use canthaxanthine, actually I think it may even be illegal. I use the phrase "small farmers" to refer to those that are not commercially scaled operations and mostly sell at farmers markets. These folks do vary in their practices. Many opt not get any certifications, mostly having to do with expense and bureaucratic hassle, but are conscientious and ethical because it's in their best interest to be that way.

And the one who really does care about how he feeds his hens might not be the one who has the more coloured yolks.
Click to expand...

Yes, I was trying to make note of that when I said "Meaning that a very healthy diet may or may not cause the dark color" earlier.

According to my personal experience, appearance, along with posted intentions, is the worst of the criteria when it comes to organic/sustainable/ethic behaviour as long as farming is concerned.
That's what I call romance.
Click to expand...

You've misunderstood me, if you saw this sort of "romance" in my comments.
 
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that eggs must be marked, in the European Union, with a code that's printed on the shell and indicates the living conditions of the hens which produce them. This is what the first digit on the left (followed by two letters which identify the country of origin: ES for Spain, FR for France, DE for Germany, IT for Italy, etcetera) tells you. This is the meaning of that first digit:

3: living in small cages
2: living indoors but with space to move
1: free-range
0: fully certified as organically grown

I've found that it's worth your trouble looking for class 1 and 0 eggs.
 
originally posted by VS:
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that eggs must be marked, in the European Union, with a code that's printed on the shell and indicates the living conditions of the hens which produce them. This is what the first digit on the left (followed by two letters which identify the country of origin: ES for Spain, FR for France, DE for Germany, IT for Italy, etcetera) tells you. This is the meaning of that first digit:

3: living in small cages
2: living indoors but with space to move
1: free-range
0: fully certified as organically grown

I've found that it's worth your trouble looking for class 1 and 0 eggs.
Click to expand...

Víctor, I can find free range eggs here in Madrid, but have not been able to find #0. Do you know where?
 
Today's update for the search for the better egg in the US: Whole food's "Cage Free Grade A Brown" was determined to be equivalent quality to French by the fried egg eater (not me). However, there was still some creaminess missing, which was attributed to the butter difference. So we have some hope.

We opened our first jar of Ferber jam. This may present another source of actionable inequity.
 
originally posted by VS:
...eggs must be marked, in the European Union, with a code that's printed on the shell and indicates the living conditions of the hens which produce them.
3: living in small cages
2: living indoors but with space to move
1: free-range
0: fully certified as organically grown
Click to expand...

In California, the legal rules don't quite create a neat tidy ascending hierarchy of quality. For example
the primary criteria for organic certification (so I'm told) is the feed. If certified organic feed is used,
then they can be labeled as such (also assuming no use of hormones or antibiotics). Living conditions aren't factored in. That feed is expensive. So, there are small producers who operate an organic farm which includes some chickens but who do not obtain certification for their eggs. These are usually (not always)
the best.

Then you have (we one one around here) a farmer's market farm that is not organic, they think it's fine to
use nonorganic fertilizers, I suppose they could be described as lutte raisonée, for lack of a better term.
Their chickens are fully free range, but not fed 100% organically, but their quality could be considered
superior to certified organically fed but caged ones. Also they're lower priced. It can get complicated.

I got into this starting several years ago when a friends mother got some backyard chickens and would
give away extras. I got totally hooked. When she got tired of doing it and they stopped coming, I sought out other sources for similar quality.
 
originally posted by Joel Stewart:
ps - raw egg and natto uncooked is where its at.
Click to expand...

One of the first phrases I learned when I was in Japan in college was "natto kekko desu." I can't stand the stuff. The son in the host family I stayed with would mix natto with raw egg and tuna fish oil. I honestly thought he was trying to kill himself.
 
originally posted by Ignacio Villalgordo:
Vctor, I can find free range eggs here in Madrid, but have not been able to find #0. Do you know where?
Click to expand...
Through the internet is the best system I know (I don't think there are any organic egg producers in the Madrid region), either at Cesta Verde, or at El SuperEcolgico, or at Huertas La Jara. Physically, you might find them at one of the Natura S supermarkets (Dr. Fleming 1 and Melndez Valds 28).
 
originally posted by Joel Stewart:
ps - raw egg and natto uncooked is where its at.
Click to expand...

Yep, poured over some rice for me. That's the only way I've been able to enjoy natto (courtesy of a Japanese roommate 25 years ago).

Mark Lipton
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top