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Living Maxwell

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All Organic Eggs are NOT the Same – Here’s How to Buy the Best

If you walk into the supermarket and are confused about which organic eggs to buy, it is important to understand a few things.

First, not all organic eggs are the same. In fact, there are massive differences in organic eggs, particularly in regards to how the birds were raised.

Second, don’t select a carton of organic eggs simply because it has the nicest, most attractive packaging. That doesn’t tell the whole story.

Lastly and most importantly, the Cornucopia Institute, one of the organic industry’s most important non-profits, has just put out an updated version of its Organic Egg Scorecard, and this should be a must-use reference guide when shopping for organic eggs.

The Organic Egg Scorecard is part of Cornucopia’s incredibly important report called Scrambled Eggs: Separating Factory Farm Egg Production from Authentic Organic Agriculture.

In this report, Cornucopia highlights the disturbing conditions under which industrial organic egg producers are operating. While substituting conventional for organic feed and not using synthetic inputs, such as pesticides or antibiotics, some of these large-scale operators provide incredibly cramped, double-story conditions, limited access points to the outdoors, and covered concrete porches instead of adequate space on grass fields.

(Cornucopia’s aerial investigation of industrial-scale organic producers, such as Herbruck’s Poultry, pictured above, revealed that many confine their laying hens rather than provide outdoor access, as required by organic regulations. This operation, likely the largest “organic” egg farm in the country, is located near Saranac, Michigan.)

On the other hand, many small organic family farms go well beyond what the USDA requires and provides ample indoor space and outdoor pasture, allowing the birds to exhibit their natural behaviors, such as foraging, scratching, and flapping their wings.

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”

Fortunately, concerned organic consumers are lucky enough to have amazing organizations such as Cornucopia, which has done extensive homework as to the farming practices of each organic egg brand.

Due to Cornucopia’s exhaustive research, shoppers can now make more educated egg purchases in the supermarket. This not only provides our families with healthier organic eggs, but it also allows us to support organic egg farmers who are doing things the right way.

Organic Egg Scorecard

Photo Gallery: Industrial-Scale Egg Production—Masquerading As Organic?

A message from Tradin Organic

How Tradin Organic is Helping Coconut Farmers in The Philippines

For more than a decade, Tradin Organic has been working with local partners in The Philippines to bring a diversified range of organic products to the market, such as coconut oil, tropical fruits and even cocoa.

The company is helping to support local farmers by assisting them with technical support and organic certification, in addition to paying Fairtrade premium on top of the organic premium.

Learn more.

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Living Maxwell

Must-Read

MUST-READ: A New Class of GMOs that Doesn’t Need Government Approval

Just when you thought that GMOs, as we know them today, were bad enough, get ready for something potentially worse to deal with.

In a recent New York Times article, it was reported that biotech companies have discovered and exploited a loophole in government regulation that allows them to create a different breed of GMOs and market them to the public without needing approval from the USDA.

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A message from Tradin Organic

Why Tradin Organic is Prioritizing Regenerative Organic Farming

At Tradin Organic, we believe that regenerative organic farming is key to growing healthy and nutritious food ingredients — for now and for future generations.

And in Sierra Leone, we have grown the world’s first Regenerative Organic Certified cacao.

Learn more.

Living Maxwell

Must-Read

Another Reason to Eat Organic – Higher Levels of Antioxidants in Onions

When people ask why they should be eating organic, there are several answers.

First, organic prohibits the use of super-toxic pesticides, such as glyphosate.

Not only is glyphosate the primary ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup and the most widely-used chemical in the world, but the State of California has said that glyphosate causes cancer!

Even more shocking is that 93% of Americans have tested positive for glyphosate. So, we need to be doing everything we can to avoid ingesting this dangerous chemical.

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Organic Insider

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NYT: Pesticides are Making the Water in California Undrinkable, Citizens Must Buy Bottled Water

All we hear from the chemical industry is that synthetic pesticides are safe to consume, and they will go to any length to make sure that Americans are exposed to as many chemicals as possible.

Here are a few examples.

* A pro-chemical group called The Alliance for Food and Farming attacked the Environmental Working Group‘s Dirty Dozen list, the list of the most pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables, and demanded that the EWG stop publishing it.

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livingmaxwell: a guide to organic food & drink