08/26/2021
The FDA requires the use of refrigeration to store eggs meant for consumers. Go to any supermarket in the US and you will find eggs in the dairy section.
Manufacturers of eggs realize that consumers want perfect eggs with no smears, odd colors or defects in the shell. Eggs that are produced that are perfect are cleaned, packaged, and refrigerated to be sold to consumers.
Eggs that are not quite perfect but are fit for consumption go to an egg cracking plant to be put in goods like mayonnaise, cake mixes and salad dressings after cleaning.
The hens that produce eggs for the mass market are horribly treated. It is just business to those manufacturers. Hens kept for laying are called “Battery Hens.” Battery hens are typically kept 2 to 4 birds to a cage. They have their beaks filed down or clipped off entirely to prevent cell mates from hurting each other. Battery hens have no access to sunlight. They are kept in cages 6 feet high.
Those $2 cartons of eggs at your grocery store come from battery hens. Humans must wear hazmat suits to be in the barn with the hens. The smell is horrible. It is hot and dusty in a battery henhouse. This is where the hens are kept 24/7. Hens only produce eggs for a year to 18 months. Once a hen’s production goes down it is taken from the henhouse and processed into dog food or cat food.
Cage free eggs come from hens that still have no access to sunlight. They have never felt dirt on their feet. Have never seen a green blade of grass. These lucky hens are crammed into a building with 10,000 of their closest friends. It is still hot and dusty.
What you will not see in the grocery store are free range eggs. Free range chickens are allowed to be outside in the sunlight. They are allowed to chase grasshoppers. They are allowed to be chickens. This method has the most overhead. It is not used by manufacturers of eggs.
