Interesting Opinion piece from the New York Times

[flvegan]

Is an Egg for Breakfast Worth This?

Supermarket eggs gleam with apparent cleanliness, and nothing might seem more wholesome than breaking one of them into a frying pan.

Think again. The Humane Society of the United States plans to release on Thursday the results of an undercover investigation into Kreider Farms, a major factory farm that produces 4.5 million eggs each day for supermarkets like ShopRite.

I’ve reviewed footage and photos taken by the investigator, who says he worked for Kreider between January and March of this year. In an interview, he portrayed an operation that has little concern for cleanliness or the welfare of hens.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/opinion/kristof-is-an-egg-for-breakfast-worth-this.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

[Demoiselle]

1. I buy only "pastured" eggs.

I hope they are, in fact, laid by hens who get to wander around a pasture.

[Codeine]

2. Unfortunately "pastured" is a term without legal meaning or certification process.

It may indeed mean happy hens wandering around in sunshine munching bugs, or it may mean nothing at all in regards to their welfare.

[Demoiselle]

3. Oh dayum!!!

I'm not being smart ass here...but how do I make sure that I'm doing the best I can in terms of humane provisioning? I really can't stop eating eggs....and I can't raise my own chickens...!

[Flaxbee]

4. Are you near any farmer's markets? Quite often they'll sell

eggs from humanely raised / treated hens, or can tell you where to find them.

Check Local Harvest's website: http://www.localharvest.org/

Our little produce stand just down the road started selling eggs recently - from their own chickens scratching around out back -- I breathed a sigh of relief and pleasure, because I love eggs but have not (knowingly) eaten them in years.

Now I can go back to my favorite breakfasts!