Podcast: What’s with all the different types of eggs?

Clinton Monchuk: (00:07)
From Canadian Food Focus, this is Ask A Farmer. I’m your host Clinton Monchuk, a Saskatchewan farmer. In this podcast, we talk to food experts to answer your questions about your food.

Clinton Monchuk: (00:30)
Well, welcome to the podcast, everyone. Today we’re going to be talking a little bit more about eggs. I’m going to disclose right off the top, I own an egg farm with my brother. So I obviously know some of the ins and outs of eggs. However, I don’t know a lot of the nutritional things and the different choices that you as consumers actually see in the grocery section. So what we’re doing today is we’re going to have a little bit of a discussion about why there are so many different egg options, what are those options and how that relates to your nutritional needs. So we are very, very happy to have Rosie Schwartz, who is a registered dietician with us. Rosie, how are you doing today?

Rosie Schwartz: (01:13)
I’m fine, thank you, Clinton.

Clinton Monchuk: (01:15)
So if you want to just give a little bit of an intro of yourself and some of your experience to make sure all our listeners know you.

Rosie Schwartz: (01:23)
I am a consulting dietician. I’m in private practice in Toronto, and through the years, what I’ve tried to do is take the scientific information about food and health and translate that into delicious food for Canadians. And at the same time, try to bust a lot of those myths that are out there. Just have people enjoy their food and eat healthy.

Clinton Monchuk: (01:55)
Sometimes it’s those simple things, right, that get us, that everybody looks into their diets with a fine tooth comb or a magnifying glass. And sometimes it’s just as simple as what you just said, isn’t it?

Rosie Schwartz: (02:08)
One of the things that people try to do is when they talk about eating healthy, and especially at this time of year, they talk about what they’re going to cut out of their diets. And what they really should be doing is looking at what they should be including so that they feel good today, they’ve got energy to live a busy life, but also to promote good health later. And it’s about what you eat, not what you don’t eat.

Clinton Monchuk: (02:41)
So I guess this leads to the heart of what we want to talk about today, Rosie. One of the things that I always see when I go grocery shopping is the confused eyes in the egg section of the grocery store, right? So the only other thing that’s more confusing is trying to figure out which bag of chips to buy right before a Super Bowl or Grey Cup. But really there’s a lot of choices, when it comes to, to eggs in the grocery store. And maybe it’d be good for everybody to just get a basic sense of what some of those choices are and then maybe we can walk through some of them.

Rosie Schwartz: (03:15)
Sure. So one of the big ones where people are confused is between white and brown eggs. And people think, well, brown eggs must be healthier, but in fact the color of the egg depends on the breed of the chicken. And so I hear from people all the time, oh, I only buy brown eggs because they’re better for you. In fact, [you should] choose the ones that you want.

Clinton Monchuk: (03:45)
Yeah. It’s kind of interesting when you think about that, right? Like it’s what’s inside the egg that actually counts, right? Nobody, at least, I don’t know of anybody who eats the actual shell, maybe some people do, but that can’t be good for you, I’m thinking.

Rosie Schwartz: (04:01)
You may have some nutrients, but I haven’t seen any recipes for them, so no. And then it comes to, you know, free range, free run, Omega-3, vitamin D enhanced, and people are very confused about that. And so when it comes to free range versus free run, free run means that the hens have the run of the hen house. They can run around the hen house, but they don’t really go outside compared to the free range, which can, they can run around the hen house, but they also go outside when weather permits and then they eat grasses. They may eat insects. And so their taste may be slightly different, or the color of the yolk would be different than let’s say just a regular egg. Right?

Clinton Monchuk: (05:00)
Yeah. And I think that comes into to some of the different choices farmers make when they’re building their barns, as well as the demands that consumers have for farmers to make on that.

Rosie Schwartz: (05:10)
Clinton, I know there are different housing systems for the hens. Are there different rules that apply to the various housing systems?

Clinton Monchuk: (05:20)
There’s a uniform kind of system of auditing. So for example, the way our farm and any other Canadian egg farm here in Canada is audited, they will go through and look at a variety of different food safety and animal care practices that are happening in the barn. And it really wouldn’t matter whether or not it’s an enriched housing system or a free run or a free range barn. So that is a standard across any farm and they are third- party audited in that program to make sure that farmers are doing what we say we’re doing right, and we should be held to those standards. So it’s things like making sure that there’s adequate space for the birds and adequate nest boxes or, you know, in our barn there’s perch kind of things where they can jump onto and just display some of those natural attributes of a chicken. So in order for us to even sell, and I mentioned before that we sell to Star Egg in Saskatoon, in order for us to sell to Star Egg, we need to pass those programs and we need to have a certification that verifies that we are upholding all those standards. So yes. Yeah, every farmer is upheld to those standards.

Rosie Schwartz: (06:47)
Frequently when you’re looking at recipes, the recipes usually call for a large egg, but I mean, we’ve got, you know, peewee and extra large. So how do hens give us different size eggs, Clinton?

Clinton Monchuk: (07:03)
Before we had the egg farm, I actually didn’t really know either, but the way it works is when we bring in our hens to actually start laying eggs, you know, they’re fairly uniform, but just the same as any other animal or even humans, we’re all a little bit different, right? So sometimes those hens will lay larger eggs quicker than others. Some of them will be a little bit slower, but when the hen initially starts laying eggs, you actually get a higher portion of jumbo eggs. So those are those eggs that are actually 70 grams or bigger. And what happens is the hen might actually miss a day of laying an egg and put two yolks in the same egg, making a bigger egg. You also have the… If they are laying pretty much every day, you get the littler eggs, so peewee eggs or a small egg, so you get more of those.

Clinton Monchuk: (07:59)
As they actually mature and get older, you definitely have more of a uniform kind of what we would call a large egg. We don’t actually want them jumbo size, we want them large and fairly uniform. And I think right now where, where our flock is at, they would be right around 85%, I think large sized, which is, is really, what you said, all the recipes ask for. And, you know, when you look at the nutritional labels, in terms of what your dietary needs are, a lot of that will be based on a large egg.

Rosie Schwartz: (08:38)
So Clinton, how long does it take for an egg that’s been laid, the hen lays the egg? How long does it take to get that egg to market?

Clinton Monchuk: (08:48)
So every day we actually pick the eggs. So the way our barn works, it’s one of those free run barns. So the chickens actually lay their eggs in a nest box and it rolls onto a conveyor, but then when the eggs come up, they’re right away put into a cool room. They’re kind of put on these cartons and packed away on pallets. And then a truck comes and picks those pallets up once a week. So depending on when you go to the grocery store, those eggs might be 24 hours after laying. And at most it would be probably a week to a week and a half old when you pick them up in the grocery store. But that’s actually one of the things, the way it works in the system here: the eggs are supplied to what the consumers’ needs are, right?

Clinton Monchuk: (09:39)
So, we try not to have too much of an oversupply, not too much of an undersupply to make sure that eggs are as fresh as possible for those who are actually eating them. So that’s kind of where you get to that. So what about, you know, going back to the average person looking at that shelf in the freezer or the fridge section in the grocery store, what are some of the other things that are options for you? We talked a little bit about the color and the size and the different housing kind of things, but what about things like vitamin D or Omega-3? Like how does that relate to your health? Or does it relate at all?

Rosie Schwartz: (10:21)
Actually, eggs naturally have vitamin D in them. The chickens produce eggs with vitamin D, but if they’re exposed to more UV light, then the amount of vitamin D in the eggs are increased. So that’s one of the things people are looking for, more vitamin D these days. Vitamin D is important for calcium absorption. It’s also important in healthy immune system function. And these days people are, are concerned about their immune systems. So that’s one of the things. So it will say if the hens are exposed to more UV light, it will mention vitamin D on the label. Then when you come to Omega-3 fats, again, that’s a nutrient that we need more of and especially for people who are not eating fish–cold water fish–omega threes are associated with heart health, for example. And so we do need more of these because people aren’t eating as much fish as is recommended. And so if the hens are fed an Omega-3 rich diet, then they produce eggs with more Omega-3 in them. Now, but there are different kinds of Omega-3 rich diets. So you can get hens that are fed flaxseed, for example, which contains ALA [alpha-linolenic acid], which is an Omega-3 fatty acid, but hens are also fed Omega-3 oils and there will be a different kind of Omega-3 found in those eggs. So for example, there’ll be more DHA [docosahexaenoic acid], which has different functions than ALA.

Clinton Monchuk: (12:15)
I’ll use my farm as an example for this. So, we have… Our eggs are vitamin D and Omega-3 enriched as well. So you mentioned flax meal or flax seed, and that’s primarily the source of Omega-3 enriching that goes into the diets with our hens. But there was a period of time where we actually tried something a little bit different, which was called camelina oil, and it didn’t really work so good. The birds didn’t really like it, so it didn’t last very long. But the idea was good to try a different source to see if, you know, the content would be different. But I was trying to remember whether or not there was any difference in the taste of the egg afterwards. And to be frank, I can’t even remember telling if there was any difference in that. But it is kind of interesting, right?

Rosie Schwartz: (13:07)
Well, one thing that I as a consumer don’t think about, it’s interesting we look at what we as humans like to eat, but animals have preferences too.

Clinton Monchuk: (13:20)
Yes, they do. And they did not like that . So, and it’s no different than you or I and I think of my daughter’s sense of taste right now with certain things that I cook, and maybe it’s the cook, maybe it’s not the food. However, there’s certain things that my son will just gobble up and my daughter kind of pokes her nose up at. But the other thing that I was going to mention is, you do see in the stores now, and again, this comes back to the choice of consumers, some other like organic eggs, right? Or different egg products. Maybe you could just take a couple minutes and and talk about some of those, maybe some of the processed eggs that might be of use to people purchasing in the stores as well.

Rosie Schwartz: (14:03)
Well, so you can get liquid egg whites, you can get liquid eggs, for example, and they’re all pasteurized, which means that where they differ from regular eggs is that they can be used raw. So it’s recommended that we not eat eggs from, that are in the shell, that we not eat them raw because of the possibility of foodborne illness. But what’s wonderful about the liquid eggs is that, because they’re pasteurized, then the bacteria in them would be killed. And so if somebody wants to make a dessert with egg whites that are uncooked, then I, that’s what I recommend to them. If I’m talking to a client, or the same thing with liquid eggs, that’s the whole egg that includes the yolk and the whites. And again, if there’s a recipe that, that people want to use that you’re eating raw eggs, that’s the way to go. It’s also convenient. I mean, they’re in portable containers and so sometimes people want to, let’s say cut calories. They may want to have two eggs as their, you know, as part of an omelet, which is the recommended portion, but then they can throw in lots of the liquid egg whites and make it into a bigger portion, which is an easy way to do that.

Clinton Monchuk: (15:35)
This kind of gets to the question, you know, from a dietitian’s perspective, what is the difference between the egg white and the egg yolk?

Rosie Schwartz: (15:47)
Well, the egg yolk and the egg whites, both of them contain protein, they contain different nutrients, but the egg whites don’t have any fat and because they don’t have any fat, they are much lower in calories. And so it’s just a way to enhance the amount of food that you’re having. So if you’re making an omelet and you’re throwing in a whole bunch of vegetables, for example, and you’re adding in egg whites, you’ve got a bigger volume of food, but the nutrients are different. Frequently it’s changing over the past while, but frequently I have found that people would only eat egg whites because of that whole myth that eggs, eating eggs will boost your cholesterol. And so people would eat egg white omelets and not include the yolk. But when I’m counselling, I will suggest to people that they, for satiety and nutrition, that they include the yolk.

Clinton Monchuk: (16:54)
So, is that to balance out the two? Is that, is that why? Again, forgive me because I don’t know the background on this, but there are two different types of cholesterol in each of the sides, right? The white and the yolk, correct?

Rosie Schwartz: (17:11)
The egg white doesn’t really have much.

Clinton Monchuk: (17:15)
There’s no cholesterol in there?

Rosie Schwartz: (17:17)
No. It’s the yolk, but people don’t realize that the cholesterol and eggs, the dietary cholesterol, the cholesterol that we eat, it’s been shown that it’s more saturated fat in food and not cholesterol that can boost cholesterol, blood cholesterol levels. So it’s really, it’s something that sort of hearkens back to the, early research on cholesterol. We used to think that if you ate cholesterol, then it boosted your blood cholesterol when in fact that’s not the case. And I mean, there are a few people that may be sensitive to dietary cholesterol, but what happens is if you’re including the yolk in your diet in the meal, then it will provide more satiety, you’ll feel more satisfied. And in fact, when I’m counseling, when people tell me that they’re craving sugar and they’re nibbling all day, one of the things that I will say to them, okay, for two weeks I want to eat two eggs every day at breakfast and let’s see what happens to your cravings. And they always come back and tell me that they’re much more satisfied and they’re not craving sweets. And so that’s something that I’d recommend on a regular basis.

Clinton Monchuk: (18:44)
Yeah. And I know from even myself when I kind of switched to having two eggs on toast every morning, it really does kind of keep you going for a good part of the morning and you’re not trying to knock over somebody to get out a sandwich for lunchtime, right?

Rosie Schwartz: (18:59)
Or looking for the jelly beans.

Clinton Monchuk: (19:01)
Yeah. My wife hides them, so I can’t find them.

Clinton Monchuk: (19:10)
So this kind of brings us to the segment of the podcast which we call the fun farm fact. We spoke to a little bit before in terms of the different colors of the yolks that you may see in the grocery stores. Really this comes back to whatever the hen eats determines that color of the yolk. And for those of us who live in western Canada, predominantly the diets out here are going to be wheat-based for energy. So they’re going to have a little bit of a pale yellow yolk. Those of you who live in Ontario East, you’re going to find that that’s going to be a little bit darker yellow, predominantly due to the corn-based diet. So, you know, and I did find it when I moved from Saskatchewan, I lived in Virginia for a little bit and I couldn’t figure out why I kept on getting these, these weird eggs that were kind of orange in color. And then I realized afterwards that it actually has everything to do with the corn-based diet, not wheat. So, if you see that as a consumer out there in the grocery store, it’s 100% to do with just what those hens are eating.

Rosie Schwartz: (20:18)
But what’s interesting about that Clinton, is that corn contains the carotenoids or pigments called lutein and zeaxanthin, and those pigments or carotinoids are associated with protection against vision problems such as macular degeneration. And they act as antioxidants. So eating deeper colored is actually providing more nutrition. But, what’s funny is that I’ve heard from people, when they’ve traveled to different places and they see almost orangey colored yolks, they’re turned off them. They think, I don’t want to eat these. Like, what’s wrong with these yolks? And in fact, I will encourage them to eat them. It’s like if you’re eating corn or you’re eating corn-based foods, then you are getting more of these compounds. So colors are good in food.

Clinton Monchuk: (21:22)
Okay, Rosie, it’s interesting because I know for myself, you know, I’m around eggs quite a bit, but I don’t necessarily know all the nutritional benefits of eggs. Like I hear it’s, it’s a very complete protein. I hear they’re a good source of protein for the price that they have. Do you want to explain a little bit more, first of all, what is a complete protein? I actually don’t know what that is. And then some of the nutritional things around eggs.

Rosie Schwartz: (21:52)
So proteins are made up of amino acids, and there are some amino acids that our bodies cannot make, whereas there are other ones that, you know, if you eat some different proteins and some amino acids, your body can put together, can make other ones. So the essential amino acids, if a food has all of the amino acids, the food is considered to be a complete protein. And so eggs are a complete protein. Animal products are complete proteins. Some plant products are complete proteins such as soy or quinoa, whereas other ones, when you eat other foods, then if you eat two different plant foods together, they will compliment each other and then you’ll have complete proteins. But eggs are the real deal. They have complete protein, they’re high in protein, and so they’re really good in terms of meeting protein needs. And so for example, as people get older, it’s really important to spread your protein out through the day.

Rosie Schwartz: (23:09)
We live in a society that for many years people would eat their protein at dinner at night when the family was together. But in fact, the research says spreading it out at breakfast, lunch and, and dinner or after exercising will give you more benefits from your protein. And so eggs are wonderful and they’re convenient and they’re also, they’re really good on the budget. If people are not, you know, if they don’t want to be eating meat, for example, eggs are great way to go in terms of protein, but they’re also packed with a lot of other nutrients we’re looking at. There’s iron in eggs, there’s B vitamins, there’s selenium, there’s… and the fats are healthy fats. So eggs are a really good nutritional choice. So Clinton, besides all those other nutrients, a lesser known nutrient that eggs are, a great source of is choline. And it’s one that’s important for brain health, brain health for both the person who’s eating it, but also for pregnant women, it’s also really important. And brain health is something that we’re looking at more and more with our aging population. So eggs have got them.

Clinton Monchuk: (24:36)
I went grocery shopping this last weekend and I’m based in Saskatoon, but there was a sale at the grocery store that I go to for two dozen eggs for $7. And I thought to myself, well, 3 dollars and 50 cents for a dozen eggs, that seems relatively inexpensive. Like, I can have quite a few meals with this. And this kind of gets to the serving size. What would your recommended serving be for somebody when, when you’re trying to look at, you know, having a, a decent protein diet, and how many eggs should we be consuming every day just to keep that?

Rosie Schwartz: (25:12)
So if you’re, if you’re taking in, if you’re consuming two eggs, you’re getting 14, 15 grams of protein, that’s pretty high compared to a lot of plant foods. When we’re looking at, for example, older people, the research is saying that we should be getting in about 20 grams of protein at a meal. So just having those eggs and then adding some dairy products or adding some whole grains and beans and so forth, the eggs really get you started on that foundation. So Clinton, I’ve seen some things written on social media that say that you don’t need to refrigerate eggs, and that’s something as a dietician I don’t agree with, but as an egg farmer, tell me your thoughts.

Clinton Monchuk: (26:08)
It is different here in Canada and the United States than, say, if you were in the European Union. And the reason is here in Canada, the way the the CFIA [Canadian Food Inspection Agency] in Health Canada works, and similar to the USDA south of the border is when those eggs come in to be graded at the different grading station, for example, we use Star Egg in Saskatoon, those eggs are washed. Now, when the hen lays the egg, there’s a really thin protective coating that is around the egg. Now, if you don’t wash that egg, you can actually leave it on the counter. And that’s what makes it different between here in North America and Europe. In Europe, they don’t wash the eggs. So you can actually leave them on the counter at room temperature and they will last quite a while longer. However, here in Canada, you must refrigerate as soon as that egg is washed and it’s for their own benefit, because you can imagine there’s different, you know, feces and stuff like that that could get in there that you want to wash that egg to make sure it’s safe. Once you wash it, as soon as you get it, you’re buying it in the refrigerator and when you bring it back home, it has to go in the refrigerator. So just to dispel any myths out there, yes, you do need to refrigerate your eggs here in Canada.

Rosie Schwartz: (27:33)
Now, how do farmers ensure that the eggs that are produced on their farms, how on your farm, for example, that they’re safely harvested and stored?

Clinton Monchuk: (27:46)
Yeah, so one of the biggest things when it comes to the eggs is making sure every day you’re running through the egg belts and you’re putting them in packages and putting them into the cool room. And here’s where the science kind of comes into it, right? So you want to make sure that, and predominantly every farmer has a packer. So the eggs kind of come in on conveyors, they’re put in these two and a half dozen little carton things and you stack them together. And then right away they go into a cool room and the interaction between each of those eggs and, you know, my hand is zero. They really never touch the cartons and we have a full-time employee who works with us. We touch the cartons, but you never actually touch the eggs. So they pretty much go from the hen on that conveyor into the cool room. And you know, even when they go to get processed, they get washed and put in a container. My hands never touch them. So all these things that we do to mitigate and remove the possibility of any possible contamination, we do. And that’s kind of just part of the process to make sure we have safe eggs and abide by the rules that are out there.

Rosie Schwartz: (29:05)
But then it’s up to us as consumers to make sure that when we’re handling them, that we are washing our hands before we handle them and after we handle them and practicing good food safety practices. And so it’s not just the farmer, it’s also the consumer.

Clinton Monchuk: (29:26)
Excellent point. Yes, you’re right. Thank you very much Rosie, for being a guest on the Ask A Farmer podcast, and we look forward to having you again sometime.

Clinton Monchuk: (29:42)
I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to our Ask a Farmer podcast. We at Canadian Food Focus value the input from our listeners and ask that you share the podcast with your friends and family. Remember, this is a two-way street, so we seek your input for future segments that are of interest to you about food and farming. To do this, please click on the ‘Ask Us’ icon at the top of our website, canadianfoodfocus.org. While you’re there, feel free to follow our numerous social media links and sign up for our newsletter. This segment was produced and edited by Angela Larson, research and writing by Dorothy Long and Penny Eaton, music by Andy Elson. I’m your host Clinton Monchuk. From all of us at Canadian Food Focus, we wish you good health and great eats.