Re: factory eggs was fatty acids destroyed by cooking?

[Guest guest]

Hi, I'm new to the group, and will be asking a lot of questions soon, I'm sure.

I did want to let you know that I raise pastured poultry as a beginning

business, and one of the things that I have learned is that 99% of all grocery

store eggs are factory. Even the organic eggs are raised in a barn with 29,999

other chickens. The best bet is to buy from a local farmer, who raises chickens

on pasture, or gives them full access to grass. I also recommend checking to

see what kind of feed they use, since people who pasture poultry can use

medicated and non-organic feed and from my experience, it is a 50/50 shot. The

" free range " definition has been rendered meaningless by the USDA getting

involved in Organic definitions. All that " free range " means is that birds have

to have access to the out doors. So 30,000 chickens can have a 10 sq ft. access

area and 15 of them can actually make it outside, but they can still put " free

range " on the label. With the " Omega 3 " labeled eggs, they simply supplement

birds' feed. And even " cage free " eggs can be in a huge barn, just not in

cages. And the label " no growth hormones " is another mis-nomer, since it is

illegal to give any growth hormones to any poultry, organic, caged, or whatever.

SO, your best bet is to go pastured if you can't raise your own. I live in WI

and Madison just passed a backyard chicken ordinance, but you can't slaughter

them. I really think that raising them is pretty easy, much easier than my dog,

and for me, it reinforces how important it is to get re-connected to our food

supply. Until last week when the ordinance was passed, there was a " chicken

underground " with a lot of people keeping them out of site. It can be and has

been done.

The bonus about buying eggs directly from a farm is that you can also sometimes

get meat and veggies there, and raw milk, even if it is just for your " pet food "

or " soap making " depending on the state you're in and the laws. I have a

disclaimer for prospective customers to sign saying that they understand that

the milk I sell them is for these uses, and they will not hold me liable for

intentional misuse of the product, because here it is illegal to sell raw milk

for consumption here. But I don't have any customers yet, and my goats won't

kid for at least another week, but I would expect to sign something at another

farm, and maybe buy a milk share. http://www.localharvest.org should get you

off in the right direction of finding a farmer. And without going too far in

depth about food politics, before I had some land to do this myself, I would

always prefer to pay someone more money. I would rather give Joe Farmer $3 per

pound for organic chicken than pay Tyson $1 per pound and having the farmer get

25 cents, only to have the chickens be grown inhumanely in the meantime. Tyson

does relatively little to make 4 times what the farmer does. I can rant about

people being disconnected from their food supply for hours, so I will save

that--

Dona

RE: fatty acids destroyed by cooking?

>

> You may destroy some of the EFA's but you also need to remember that the

> fat ratio of factory eggs is totally screwed up. The 3:6 ratio is

> completely off, and those fats will be in there when you eat the egg.

> Eggs are a great source of other essential things (lecithin, vit A,

> cholesterol, if I recall correctly, and there's more stuff) and I bet

> factory farmed eggs wouldn't even grow a healthy chicken if they were

> fertile.

>

> If you start off with crap, and cook it, you still have crap. At least

> if you start off with a primo egg (actually, not really primo, just what

> nature intended) then you can cook it a bit and you still have a damned

> good egg. Besides, the taste is just worth the money, IMHO.

>

> And if you can afford to buy the fancy eggs, get a chicken :-) you

> won't ever want to eat a store bought egg again in your life. A chicken

> costs only a few bucks (babies are like $2) and you can keep them almost

> anywhere

>

> And take your cod liver oil/fish oil no matter what kind of egg you're

> eating.

>

>

[Guest guest]

>farmer get 25 cents, only to have the chickens be grown inhumanely in the

meantime. Tyson does relatively little to make 4 times what the farmer does.

I can rant about people being disconnected from their food supply for hours, so

I will save that--

>

>Dona

Dona:

I'll have to second the " disconnected from your food supply " part. My mind

went thru a RADICAL change when I first saw a beef being slaughtered

for my private consumption. It's a real shift ... very personal, I can't

describe it. Suddenly I felt VERY responsible not only for that beef, but

also for my family, for the fact that THEIR life and death is very much

under my control at this point. After that I can't quite go into denial about

the poultry I buy at the store, knowing how it was raised ... it's either

buy from someone who " does right " or raise them myself (which I'm

trying for the first time).

For the first time I really understand my Grandmother. She didn't like

buying mushrooms at the store. " how do you know they are the

right ones? " she'd ask. She didn't trust mushrooms unless SHE picked

them, in the woods.

I know all that sounds weird. But our society, by the standards

of history, is like living in Disneyland, we act like children,

eating what is fed us, so trustingly.

-- Heidi Jean