At 09:40 AM 13/04/2006 -0700, Debra Probert wrote:
Best Eating
Best Eating Archives
Putting chickens before eggs
By pieta woolley
Publish Date: 13-Apr-2006 Georgia Straight
This Easter, you won’t find the executive director of the Vancouver
Humane Society hunting for eggs. Debra Probert hardly eats them. When
she does, she makes sure they’re certified organic. But the
animal-rights advocate doesn’t expect everyone to ban eggs Benny.
“We’re very realistic,” Probert told the Georgia Straight in a phone
interview from Columbus, Ohio, where she was attending a United
Poultry Concerns conference. “The VHS promotes veganism, that’s the
most important way people can help animals. But most people consume
the product, and they’re inherently kind. That’s why we say organic
and only organic eggs.”
Most egg eaters, though, are faced with a far more complex choice than
whether or not to shell out for organic. Stand in front of the egg
refrigerator at the Davie Street Safeway and the selection is
dizzying. Among the more than 10 choices on the shelves are regular
eggs in different colours, brands, and sizes; Omega 3 eggs; organic
eggs; and free-range eggs, not to be confused with free-run eggs.
At the Robson Street Capers Community Market, all the eggs sold are
organic, but the choice is no less complicated. The feel-good eggs of
the year—the Rabbit River Farms organic (and B.C. Society for the
Protection of Animals–certified) extra-larges—cost a whopping $5.99 a
dozen. Compared with Safeway’s $2.80 for a regular, nonorganic large
brown dozen, there’s got to be more driving an organic buy than just
whim.
Most of us choose cheaply. Wire-mesh battery cages, which usually
house chickens that produce the least expensive products, are the
birthplace of about 75 percent of the eggs sold in B.C., according to
Peter Whitlock, operations manager of the B.C. Egg Marketing Board. He
said the board does not make judgments.
“Our point of view for years has been consumer choice,” he told the
Straight. “Whatever the consumer wants we’ll make sure is there in
stores….We don’t take sides. Whatever people believe in, we’ll have a
product.”
Battery-cage eggs, at about 23 cents each, are the least expensive
choice. These eggs provoke the ire of animal?-rights advocates such as
Probert, though, who say six hens squeezed into a small cage with a
bottom less than the size of a sheet of paper each is cruel. The
federal recommendations, as stated in the Canadian Agri-Food Research
Council’s (CARC) code of practice for laying hens, are minimal and
voluntary (www.carc-crac.ca/). In an October 2005 report, the Canadian
Coalition for Farm Animals cites cramped quarters, sloppy debeaking,
and a lack of protective legislation for the poor condition of
Canada’s 26 million laying hens. The cage system, according to the
report, produces about 6.9 billion eggs per year.
Omega 3 eggs, at about 25 cents each, are fed a different diet than
regular battery hens, which changes the fats in the yolk. The
all-vegetarian feed boosts the egg’s vitamin E and Omega 3
polyunsaturates and reduces the egg’s saturated fat, according to the
Born 3 Marketing Corporation. However, the Omega 3 designation does
not influence how the hens are housed.
Free-run eggs cost about 30 cents each. As defined by the CARC,
free-run systems do not keep hens in a cage but allow them to run
freely in a barn. Advantages, according to CARC, include “the
expression of more of the behaviours normally associated with birds”
such as dust bathing, wing flapping, perching, and foraging.
Free-range eggs cost about 39 cents each. Along with an open run of
the barn, these hens have access to outside, weather permitting.
Organic eggs cost anywhere from 40 to 50 cents each. As of 2004, this
province had the most organic layers out of any in Canada: 48,218.
That’s according to the Certified Organic Association of B.C. (COABC),
which certifies organic products on behalf of the provincial
government. Organic eggs are free-range, they’re fed an organic diet,
and the farm is inspected for a long list of requirements (see
www.certifiedor ganic.bc.ca/) by the COABC. In addition, egg farmers
can have their farms certified by the BCSPCA for their treatment of
the hens. So far, only one B.C. farm has an SPCA designation: Rabbit
River Farms, in Richmond.
For the VHS, egg layers are the top priority in their ongoing fight
for animal welfare. Its Web site, www.chickenout.ca/, urges consumers
to make informed choices about eggs.
“You get what you pay for,” pro-organic Probert said. “At $6 a dozen,
they’re such an incredible source of protein, and most of us are not
poor. It’s an unbelievable difference in the lives of the hens.”
From: Saskatchewan Egg Producers <sep@saskegg.ca>
Date: Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:03:11 AM America/Regina
To: 'Daryl Hepting' <dhepting@sasktel.net>
Subject: RE: organic eggs
Hi Daryl.
I just looked into your request for organic eggs. It is my
understanding
that there are no organic eggs being produced or graded in
Saskatchewan at
all at this time. I'm sorry I can't be of more help.
Angela Bottcher, Office Manager
The Saskatchewan Egg Producers
Mail to: P.O. Box 1263, Station Main
Regina, SK S4P 3B8
Office: 496 Hoffer Drive
Regina, SK S4N 6E2
Ph: (306) 924-1505
Fx: (306) 924-1515
angela.bottcher@saskegg.ca
-----Original Message-----
From: Daryl Hepting [mailto:dhepting@sasktel.net]
Sent: Monday, April 17, 2006 9:35 AM
To: sep@saskegg.ca
Subject: organic eggs
Hi;
Can you please tell me who around Regina produces organic eggs?
Or, where I can find organic eggs to buy?
Best regards,
Daryl
--