Wegmans organic eggs vs Costco organic eggs.

[Anonymous]

Wegmans egg yolk are beautiful vibrant yellow.
Costco egg yolk are light yellow.
Wegmans organic eggs are rated A , but the yolk looks better.
Costco organic eggs are rated AA, and Is better rating.
Both are from vegetarian fed hens.

My question is why the yolk color difference.

[Anonymous]

Different chicken breeds lay different eggs

[Anonymous]

In the summer (and throughout the year if it's warm enough), a hen that spends time outside and a hen that spends time pecking will have nice yellow/orange yolks.

[Anonymous]

which one tastes better

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wegmans egg yolk are beautiful vibrant yellow.
Costco egg yolk are light yellow.
Wegmans organic eggs are rated A , but the yolk looks better.
Costco organic eggs are rated AA, and Is better rating.
Both are from vegetarian fed hens.

My question is why the yolk color difference.

Small free-range/pastured poultry/egg producer here.

The yolk color reflects what the hen is eating. A brighter yellow or orange yolk means the hen is eating/kept on grass. Light yellow indicates they are probably confinement kept and fed only layer feed/organic layer feed. The whites will also be clearer in a pastured egg, and the texture/taste will be a lot stronger, more rich. Also - chickens are omnivores, they should not be eating a vegetarian only diet (huge pet peeve of mine), they need bugs, grass, and weeds in their diet, in addition to a calcium supplement for strong egg shells (mine have access to free choice crushed oyster shells). Tons of research out there on nutritional differences between the eggs too, pastured will have more Omega 3s and beta carotene content.

The rating doesn't matter - all commercially produced eggs you buy in a grocery store are from chickens kept in pretty awful conditions, no matter if they are "organic" or not. "Cage free" means the hen has at least 2 feet of space to move around, "pastured" can mean they have access to outside areas, not that they can necessarily get there through the thousands of other hens in the barn. "Organic" means they were fed and kept in a facility that meets USDA Organic regs - the grower has to certify and provide records that the facility hasn't had exposure to non-organics in the past 3 years, and the animals are fed organic feed. That's it. If the bird isn't healthy, it is usually culled (or left to suffer and die) instead of treated with medication that can solve the problem because if the animal is administered medicine it immediately loses it's "organic-ness." Organic does not mean a healthy animal or ethical or humane. At all. Shell color is irrelevant, different breeds of chickens lay different colors of eggs. White layers usually lay more eggs because they don't have to lay a pigment on the shell during the egg's trip through the bird.

The big producers have found all sorts of ways around the regulatory standards for labels. The only way to guarantee good eggs or meat, raised in a humane and ethical way, is to find a local farmer, visit their farm, and get on their list, and most of us are having trouble keeping up with demand these days.

[Anonymous]

Deep yellow yolk is the best, orange basically. That means chicken is pasture raised. Your organic eggs are nothing compared to pasture raised, which I not usually labeled organic since it is impossible to do so. Yet, your organic egg is nothing but a label. Please research what organic really means, no antibiotics, and other than than jack s*it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:which one tastes better

Wegmans eggs looks and tastes better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wegmans egg yolk are beautiful vibrant yellow.
Costco egg yolk are light yellow.
Wegmans organic eggs are rated A , but the yolk looks better.
Costco organic eggs are rated AA, and Is better rating.
Both are from vegetarian fed hens.

My question is why the yolk color difference.

Small free-range/pastured poultry/egg producer here.

The yolk color reflects what the hen is eating. A brighter yellow or orange yolk means the hen is eating/kept on grass. Light yellow indicates they are probably confinement kept and fed only layer feed/organic layer feed. The whites will also be clearer in a pastured egg, and the texture/taste will be a lot stronger, more rich. Also - chickens are omnivores, they should not be eating a vegetarian only diet (huge pet peeve of mine), they need bugs, grass, and weeds in their diet, in addition to a calcium supplement for strong egg shells (mine have access to free choice crushed oyster shells). Tons of research out there on nutritional differences between the eggs too, pastured will have more Omega 3s and beta carotene content.

The rating doesn't matter - all commercially produced eggs you buy in a grocery store are from chickens kept in pretty awful conditions, no matter if they are "organic" or not. "Cage free" means the hen has at least 2 feet of space to move around, "pastured" can mean they have access to outside areas, not that they can necessarily get there through the thousands of other hens in the barn. "Organic" means they were fed and kept in a facility that meets USDA Organic regs - the grower has to certify and provide records that the facility hasn't had exposure to non-organics in the past 3 years, and the animals are fed organic feed. That's it. If the bird isn't healthy, it is usually culled (or left to suffer and die) instead of treated with medication that can solve the problem because if the animal is administered medicine it immediately loses it's "organic-ness." Organic does not mean a healthy animal or ethical or humane. At all. Shell color is irrelevant, different breeds of chickens lay different colors of eggs. White layers usually lay more eggs because they don't have to lay a pigment on the shell during the egg's trip through the bird.

The big producers have found all sorts of ways around the regulatory standards for labels. The only way to guarantee good eggs or meat, raised in a humane and ethical way, is to find a local farmer, visit their farm, and get on their list, and most of us are having trouble keeping up with demand these days.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Nick's organic eggs. Buy those.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, Nick's pasture raised eggs, not organic. They roam free, saw it myself. Or similar.

[Anonymous]

I’m skeptical of any of Costco brand organic items.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m skeptical of any of Costco brand organic items.

Don’t be skeptical.
Costco is a great company and organic products are USDA certified.

[Anonymous]

What about shell thickness? When I buy farmers market eggs the shells are really thin. Is that better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about shell thickness? When I buy farmers market eggs the shells are really thin. Is that better?

Chicken lady again - No, it's not better, it's actually bad - that is a sign the bird isn't getting enough calcium in their diet (see my free-choice oyster shell comment above). I stopped selling at farmers markets - a lot of those vendors aren't really farmers, they are buying eggs from commercial facilities or warehouses, repackaging, and reselling, banking on the fact that most people think they are buying from a small producer - the Amish are one of the biggest offenders of this practice. Between booth rent, insurance, time, and now the pandemic, I stopped doing farmers markets and now do on-farm pickup for local clients, in addition to a weekly delivery of eggs into the city to a client list built from my market days. I also supply a few local bakeries and chefs with both chicken and duck eggs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about shell thickness? When I buy farmers market eggs the shells are really thin. Is that better?

About the same thickness for both, large brown eggs and from free range hens.
Less impurity’s in the white part of the eggs for Costco, so I assumed the AA rating.