Boycott jailed eggs

Expanding use of free-run eggs, and eggs from small producers, is a very big issue

Recently a local soup kitchen was offered 40 dozen eggs. Not just any dozen eggs, but eggs from organically fed free-run hens raised by Organic Farmyards in Freetown. However as detailed in Tuesday’s Guardian, local health authorities forbid the use of such eggs in kitchens serving the public.

Personally I only buy eggs from free-run hens. I love the taste and the bright orange colour of the yolk but the main reason is that I do not believe in jailing hens for life, as is the fate of most hens supplying eggs to the supermarkets. Hens to my mind should live a good life and that involves being able to walk around, scratch the ground and other wholesome chicken activities, instead of being caged in a tiny cage forever.

Then there is the feed. The very best eggs come from hens allowed to roam eating seeds, insects and supplementary food supplied by the owner, hopefully just grain or flaxseed.

I am always worried about livestock being fed antibiotics, which is the norm for most large-scale producers. Their chickens and hens living condition are so crowded that only antibiotics can keep them alive. The antibiotics invariably end up in your own food, and before you know it, you are hosting antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

So free-run eggs are popular. So popular that people flock to the Farmers Market on Saturdays, sometimes even before the official opening time, to secure a dozen free-run eggs. Alas I am a late sleeper, so the eggs are often all gone when I get there. Desperate, I have to go to the supermarket and one of them does carry free-run eggs, although more expensive than market eggs.

But I noticed that the freerun eggs in the supermarket are not from P.E.I., but from Ontario. Egg producers are controlled by a marketing board and there are seven Island ‘factory’ producers.

I spoke to Michael Cummisky, manager of P.E.I. Egg Producers. It turns out that one of the producers does operate a free-run facility, but the eggs are sent to Nova Scotia for grading and selling.

Michael was telling me that the licensed producers follow strict protocols, keeping records of feed and animal care. The eggs are graded in a federally inspected facility, where they are also washed in bleach and candled for internal spots. Eggs are kept cool at all times and arrive fresh to the supermarket.

Michael stated that the licensed producers’ hens and eggs receive a lot more care than the hens and eggs of the small, under-200 hens producers selling eggs at the farmers markets.

This may well be true, but one wonders if the extra care is simply needed to counteract the crowded conditions of thousands of birds, jailed or not. Compare this to the hens in Freetown where owner Sandy Bernard explains that the hens run completely free during the day, feasting on grass, insects and fallen seeds supplemented with organic seeds.

Sounds healthier to me, and I know that it is this diet and lifestyle that produce the bright orange yolk that I love.

Meanwhile the local health authorities are doing all they can to favour jailed and factory eggs. They forbid any public food establishment from using free-run eggs and a few years ago they stopped Paul Offer from serving them to his guests in his Doctors Inn in Tyne Valley, even though his eggs are some of the best eggs to be had on P.E.I. The authorities claim it is a public health issue, but clearly they are just doing their best to keep small independent producers from making their natural association with local restaurants (and soup kitchens).

Expanding the use of free-run eggs and eggs from small producers may seem like a small issue, but in reality it is a very big issue.

People come to P.E.I. for the close connection we have to the land here, including the food, so serving them the same pale and tasteless fare as is available in the big cities does not promote tourism to P.E.I. Let’s promote the local, small-scale egg producers by buying free-run eggs from them. If you get there too late, buy only free-run and unjailed eggs at the supermarket. Eventually the Island factory egg producers will get the point, and produce better eggs themselves, but only if you boycott jailed eggs.

Vote with your money and make a chicken happy. Ole Hammarlund, a Charlottetown architect, has been working on projects to reduce carbon emissions since he came to P.E.I. in 1974 to design and build the Ark.