Whether you’re new to organic or have been eating it for decades, here is a very likely scenario when you go to buy eggs.

You stand in the refrigerated section of the market, look at all of options, check out the prices and make a decision largely based on the packaging of each brand.

Some have attractive pictures of rolling farmland, others show actual farmers, some have photos of the animals. Most certainly, the brands are using buzz words such as “cage-free”, “sunlit porches”, “omega 3-s” or “heritage breed”.

Are these brands being falsely deceptive?

I don’t believe so at all. They are trying to make the packaging as attractive as possible, and rightly so. I would do the exact same thing.

While brand recognition and price are key factors, what the packaging looks like and the emotional reaction that it has on you can heavily influence purchasing decisions.

As I have written about before, all organic eggs are NOT the same — all birds are fed differently and are treated differently — but people forget this and may get seduced by wholesome, folksy packaging.

So, I took a sampling of 8 different organic egg brands and pulled their ratings from the Cornucopia’s Organic Egg Scorecard to see how they stacked up versus the attractiveness of the packaging.

The Organic Egg Scorecard classifies each brand into one of five categories:

“5-Egg” Rating: “Exemplary” – Beyond organic

“4-Egg” Rating: “Excellent” – Organic promoting outdoor access

“3-Egg” Rating: “Good to Very Good” – Organic, complying with minimum USDA standards

“2-Egg” Rating: “Fair” – Some questions remain concerning compliance with organic standards

“1-Egg” Rating: “Industrial Organics” – No meaningful outdoor access and/or non-transparent

Here is what I found.

VITAL FARMS === 4-EGG RATING

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UPDATE: THE RON FINLEY PROJECT HAS BEEN FULLY FUNDED AND SAVED!  THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT!

If you are a frequent or new reader of my blog, I ask you to please do two things:

1) Watch the video above about Ron Finley, the ‘gangsta gardener’ in South Central LA.

2) Read the below and help save his operation in Los Angeles. He is under a very serious threat of eviction, and we must do whatever we can to help save him. Ron is one of our own, and it is imperative that he continue with his very important work.

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Over the past week or so, there have been emails circulating throughout the organic industry from John Foraker, President of Annie’s, about Ron Finley. Read more »

(Photo courtesy of Acosta)

Acosta, a sales and marketing organization for the food industry, recently published an interesting research report called Back to our Roots: The Rise of the Natural/Organic Shopper.

While it is common knowledge that the macro trends of the organic industry are very favorable and conventional supermarkets are embracing organic more than ever, the report takes a deeper look at the habits, motivation and preferences of organic shoppers. Read more »

One of the major challenges that organic farmers face is the transition period in switching from a conventional farm to a certified organic farm. Under current USDA rules, the soil on a farm needs to be verified by an organic certifier that it has not been sprayed with toxic pesticides for the previous 36 months.

This presents a serious financial hurdle for farmers because they are essentially being asked to farm organically yet must sell their products in the marketplace at conventional prices for three years.

An excellent new program called the National Certified Transitional Program (NCTP), developed by the Organic Trade Association (OTA) and in partnership with the USDA, is seeking to make this transition period less burdensome for farmers, with the goal of getting more of them to switch to organic. Read more »

The Pew Research Center recently released its findings from a new report called The New Food Fights: U.S. Public Divides Over Food Science, which largely focused on Americans’ perceptions of organic and genetically-modified foods (GMOs).

It surveyed 1,500 nationally representative adults (whatever that means), and I found the data to be both encouraging and worrisome. Read more »

Here are some of my best healthy gift ideas. Enjoy!

THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION FROM SAKARA LIFE

My friends at Sakara Life, the amazing plant-based organic meal delivery service, have put together The Ultimate Collection from their Clean Boutique.

Not only are you getting a wide array of Saraka Life’s most delicious products, but they are packed with “functional ingredients,” which go beyond nutritional science to also encompass the best of traditional medicine, folk remedies and spiritual healing.

Read more »

(Photo courtesy of José Andrés)

When you’re running an organic gazpacho company and dream about the people you’d like involved in your company, there is pretty much only one name at the top of this list: José Andrés. The most widely acclaimed Spanish chef here in the U.S., José Andrés was also named “Outstanding Chef” by the James Beard Foundation in 2011 and recognized by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

For Austin Allan, founder of Tío Gazpacho, who used to eat at José Andrés’ restaurants in Washington, D.C. all of the time, this dream became a reality right before Thanksgiving.

And it all began in April when Austin Allan was in a meeting and received a surprise email from this star chef that said the following:

I am a Spanish chef and am watching you from a distance. I would love to talk.

Needless to say, Austin bolted out of the meeting and got on the phone with him immediately. Six months of conversations and negotiations ultimately led to a partnership between Tío Gazpacho and José Andrés, where he and his restaurant company, ThinkFoodGroup, will help with distribution, sourcing, marketing, PR, social media and product development. Read more »