The New York Times recently touted The Cornucopia Institute’s organic egg scorecard in Florence Fabricant’s article, Organic Egg Ratings at Your Fingertips. Fabricant says, “It’s worth studying the many shades of organic, especially regarding eggs.”
The scorecard showcases brands of ethical family farms and exposes factory farm brands in the grocery store that threaten to take over organic livestock agriculture. Based on 28 criteria important to organic consumers, Cornucopia rates name-brand and private-label organic eggs from a poor one-egg score to the excellent five-egg score.
The scorecard also profiles some emerging brands that advertise their eggs as “pastured,” although their birds are housed in fixed buildings. Some factory farm operators raise millions of birds (both conventional and organic) with as many as 200,000 “organic” hens in a single building. The true gold standard in organic egg production is portable henhouses which farmers rotate in fresh pasture, oftentimes daily.
Consumers and wholesale buyers can read more about the organic egg industry in Cornucopia’s report, Scrambled Eggs: Separating Factory Farm Egg Production from Authentic Organic Agriculture. Use our web-based egg scorecard to determine where to invest your food dollars.
