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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

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.

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Living Maxwell

Must-Read

Cornucopia’s Organic Egg Scorecard – Because Not All Organic Eggs are The Same

Just as The Environmental Working Group recently put out its bottled water rankings, The Cornucopia Institute has done something similar but with eggs.

While many people may assume that all organic eggs are very similar, this does not appear to be the case. Cornucopia rated all brands of eggs based on 22 criteria that are important to consumers, and the results — not to mention the accompanying video — were quite telling.

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A message from E3Live

"My Everyday, Must-Have Green Organic Aquabotanical"

The best testimonial that I can give is that I drink this every single day, as it impacts my mood in an incredibly positive way.

E3Live + BrainON is certified organic, fresh-frozen AFA (Aphanizomenon flos-aquae) with a concentrated, aqueous, organic extract of Phenylethylamine and Phycocyanin.

Learn more.

Living Maxwell

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Why Organic Food is a MUST for Men — Pesticides Have Been Linked to Lower Sperm Count and Quality

As someone who has eaten close to 100% organic since 2001, my personal experience is that women are more concerned than men about the quality of food they are putting into their bodies.

While this is based on anecdotal evidence, there are a few data points to back this up.

The Pew Research Center’s recent report called The New Food Fights: U.S. Public Divides Over Food Science concluded that women are more likely to care about GMOs than men.

According to Google Analytics, approximately 2/3rds of Living Maxwell readers – people reading about organic – are women.

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Organic Insider

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Why We Should be Very Worried about GMO Contamination of Alfalfa

Many people are under the impression that organic crops will just “always be there”.

Meaning, we don’t have to worry, we’ll just go to the local farmers market or Whole Foods, they’ll always have organic. These people will figure out any potential problems.

Yet, if you look behind the scenes and learn what is happening with alfalfa, a main source of feed for animals in the organic meat and dairy industries, you’ll quickly realize that the situation for organic is very dire.

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livingmaxwell: a guide to organic food & drink