How safe are free-range eggs?
Years ago - before we moved here and put a dog inside - the shed out back was a chicken coop. These were the original backyard chickens. A resurgence of small-flock rearing has led many to wonder (and make assumptions) about the safety of free-range eggs.
Joel Keehn wrote on Consumer Reports' Health blog this weekend that,
"About a year ago I took my 11-year-old daughter to the emergency room with what turned out to be salmonella poisoning. My first thought when I heard the diagnosis: Did she pick up the infection from our flock of chickens? But the public-health outreach worker at the local department of health said that was unlikely.
"While eggs are indeed a leading cause of salmonella poisoning, the bacteria that causes the infection may be more likely to breed in the cramped confines of factory farms than in free-range, backyard chicken runs like ours."
Oh? That's an interesting assumption. And Keehn doesn't provide anything to support it.
As far as I can tell, salmonella contamination of eggs from various farming methods has not been well-researched...save for one study rumored in January 2008 to have been conducted by the UK government that "showed that 23.4 per cent of farms with caged [egg-laying] hens tested positive for salmonella compared to 4.4 per cent in organic flocks and 6.5 per cent in free-range flocks."
The closest thing I could find was a report by the UK Food Standards Agency in March 2004 of testing results of 4,753 containers of six eggs each (with 16.9% from free-range production systems) that found "no statistically significant difference...between the prevalence of salmonella contamination in samples from different egg production types."
Keehn's blog post concluded by saying,
"By the way, the health department official who called me up said the most likely source of my daughter’s salmonella poisoning was our pet turtle. That critter is now gone. But I’m picking up four new hens from my neighbor down the road later this week."
I have no reason to believe their eggs will be any safer than those of caged hens. Keehn's reason is not good enough.
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/admin/trackback/147852
I have always wondered about that (the eggs in your own backyard coop). It is good to know that grandmas eggs are for the most part free of salmonella. We love eggs and now realize that her eggs are better than the store , but we already knew that...hahaha..there isn't anything better than gmas cooking.
I was talking to the guy seated next to me on a plane. He used to have some backyard chickens and he sold the eggs. One of his best customers was a guy who liked raw eggs but didn't trust the ones from the supermarket. One day he got a call from the guy's wife. She said her husband was seriously ill from Se.
Calif has had zero cases of salmonella poisoning from shelled eggs for the past decade, unlike surrounding states. We'll see if that changes when last year's Proposition 2 goes into effect. Too bad HSUS filed 5 lawsuits to prevent voters from learning this and other facts about egg safety.
Research around the world shows increased hen mortality and illness when litter based, cagefree or freerange housing systems are used, compared to standard commercial cages. Thanks, HSUS. Didn't know you hated chickens so much.
I agree with Sacramento Mom. The HSUS does not want us to know the truth about "free range" eggs. The free range chickens are actually more prone to disease and unsafe living conditions than the caged hens, because their environment is less controlled. Caged chickens don't peck each other for food. They all have an adequate and easily found supply of food and water. Caged chickens are not able to eat their own feces or the feces of other animals, so they are less likely to carry and spread disease. The eggs laid by caged chickens are collected more consistently and easily, packaged and refrigerated more quickly, so there is no chance of collecting an old egg, and not knowing whether it has been left unrefrigerated for an excessive amount of time.
HSUS also doesn't want us to know that the chickens enjoy flocking together. They don't need a large open space to be happy, just food, water and clean living conditions.
Many chickens on large farms eat better than children in third-world countries. Going to all free-range production would increase the cost of all food (not just eggs, b/c eggs are used in the production of many types of foods). If the cost of food rises, it will be harder for poor families to feed their children. It's sad that the Humane Society puts the "happiness" of a chicken ahead of starving children.
I agree with Sacramento Mom. The HSUS does not want us to know the truth about "free range" eggs. The free range chickens are actually more prone to disease and unsafe living conditions than the caged hens, because their environment is less controlled. Caged chickens don't peck each other for food. They all have an adequate and easily found supply of food and water. Caged chickens are not able to eat their own feces or the feces of other animals, so they are less likely to carry and spread disease. The eggs laid by caged chickens are collected more consistently and easily, packaged and refrigerated more quickly, so there is no chance of collecting an old egg, and not knowing whether it has been left unrefrigerated for an excessive amount of time.
HSUS also doesn't want us to know that the chickens enjoy flocking together. They don't need a large open space to be happy, just food, water and clean living conditions.
Many chickens on large farms eat better than children in third-world countries. Going to all free-range production would increase the cost of all food (not just eggs, b/c eggs are used in the production of many types of foods). If the cost of food rises, it will be harder for poor families to feed their children. It's sad that the Humane Society puts the "happiness" of a chicken ahead of starving children.