What are Pastured Eggs?
Discover > Farm to Table Eating in Texas > What are Pastured Eggs?
Have you ever asked, “What are Pastured Eggs?” or How different are Pastured eggs versus conventional eggs, But before we go any further, let’s get an urban myth out of the way and that is, brown eggs aren’t necessarily pastured or free-range eggs. The color of the egg has nothing to do with an egg coming from pastured chickens or from conventionally-raised chickens but everything with the breed of the chicken laying the egg. So as they say, beauty is only skin deep! And those white eggs you see at your local Texas farmers market claiming to be pastured eggs? Well, they could very well be pastured eggs!
Why Pasture-Raised Eggs Are The Best
Pasture-raised eggs are arguably the best eggs you can purchase by far. Free range is a term that is often used to mislead consumers (but not all of the time!) Free range, as well as organic, are labels that have lost most of the intended meaning. Free-range eggs can still come from chickens who spend the vast majority of their time crammed in tight spaces with a small portal where they have access to the outside, a portal that the confined chickens will probably never use in their entire lives.
With pasture-raised eggs, you can rest assured of knowing the exact conditions where the chickens were raised and kept in. The chickens that lay pasture-raised eggs are, as the name implies, raised on a pasture. They are given wide open spaces to live freely and happily in their natural conditions. Pasture-raised chickens are given 108 square feet to roam, per bird.
Are Pasture-Raised Eggs Healthier?
Pasture-raised chickens eat a more natural diet that is consistent with their omnivorous diets. This means that the chickens receive more vitamins and nutrients than their factory-farmed counterparts. The healthiness of the bird carries directly over into the healthiness of the eggs. Pasture-raised eggs are better, not just for the bird, but for you, the consumer, as well.
Pasture-raised eggs contain a significant degree less cholesterol and saturated fat. They also contain more of vitamins A and E. Pasture-raised eggs are richer in omega-3 fatty acids and beta carotene when compared to conventional eggs. On the flip side, there are no health benefits or in fact benefits of any kind held by conventional eggs over pastured eggs. The healthy choice is clear and definitive, much like the reasons why buying pastured eggs from your local Texas Farmers’ Market is a better option than buying eggs from your big box supermarkets at a discounted price!
Sources:
https://certifiedhumane.org/article-explains-difference-pasture-raised-free-range-eggs/
https://vitalfarms.com/pasture-raised-eggs/
