February 14, 2024 • 30 mins
Eggs are an excellent source of high-quality protein. In Canada, when we go to the grocery store there are so many different egg options available. We get a choice when it comes to egg size, egg colour, eggs based on different housing system, certified organic eggs, eggs enriched with Omega 3 or enriched with Vitamin D. In today's podcast, we will break down the different options available and talk about egg nutrition with Registered Dietitian Rosie Schwartz.
Host: Clinton Monchuk
Clinton Monchuk grew up on a mixed dairy, beef and grain family farm outside of Lanigan, Saskatchewan. He received his Bachelors of Science in Agriculture majoring in Agricultural Economics from the University of Saskatchewan and Masters of Business Administration in Agriculture from the University of Guelph. Clinton has enjoyed numerous roles across Canada, the United States and Mexico as a researcher, educator, manager, economist and director of trade policy.
In 2016 Clinton accepted the role of Executive Director with Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan to promote farming and ranching to consumers. Clinton understands the value of increasing public trust in agriculture and actively promotes engagement between the agriculture industry and consumers.
Clinton, Laura and their children Jackson and Katelyn, continue to be active partners on their family grain and layer farm in Saskatchewan and cattle ranch in Oklahoma.
Guest: Rosie Schwartz
Rosie Schwartz is a consulting dietitian and an award-winning nutrition writer and author. Both in her private nutrition counseling practice and her extensive work with the media, translating the science of nutrition into healthy and delicious fare has been her focus. Her quest is to help Canadians become enlightened eaters by focusing on what they should eat, not what they should cut out.
Resources:
Egg options at the grocery store
Protein for Breakfast
Protein on your plate
Episode Credits: Research and writing by Dorothy Long and Penny Eaton, Produced and edited by Angela Larson, Music by Andy Ellison-Track title: Gravel Road
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Speaker 2 (00:07):
From Canadian Food Focus. This is Ask a Farmer.
I'm your host Clinton Manuk . ASaskatchewan farmer. In this
podcast, we talk to foodexperts to answer your
questions about your food.
(00:30):
Well, welcome to the podcast,everyone. Today we're gonna be
talking a little bit more abouteggs. I'm gonna disclose right
off the top, I own an egg farmwith my brother. So I obviously
know some of the ins and outsof eggs. However, I don't know
a lot of the nutritional thingsand the different choices that
you as consumers actually seein the grocery section . So
(00:54):
what we're doing today is we'regonna have a little bit of a
discussion about why there areso many different egg options.
What are those options and howthat relates to your
nutritional needs. So we arevery, very happy to have Rosie
Schwartz, who is a registereddietician with us. Rosie, how
are you doing today? I'm
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Fine, thank you, Clinton.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So if you wanna just give a little bit of a , you
know, intro of yourself andsome of your experience to make
sure all our listeners knowyou.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I am a consulting dietician . I'm in private
practice in Toronto, andthrough the years, what I've
tried to do is take thescientific information about
food and and health andtranslate that into delicious
food for Canadians. And at thesame time, try to bust a lot of
(01:48):
those myths that are out there.
Just have people enjoy theirfood and eat healthy.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Sometimes
it's those simple things,
right, that get us, thateverybody looks into their,
their diets with a fine toothcomb or a magnifying glass. And
sometimes it's just as simpleas what you just said, isn't
it?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And one of the things that people try to do is
when they talk about eatinghealthy, and especially at this
time of year, they talk aboutwhat they're going to cut outta
their diets. And what theyreally should be doing is
looking at what they should beincluding so that they feel
good today , they've got energyto, to live a , a busy life,
(02:34):
but also to promote good healthlater. And it's about what you
eat, not what you don't eat.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So I guess this leads to the heart of what we
want to talk about today,Rosie. One of the things that I
always see when I go groceryshopping is the confused eyes
in the egg section of thegrocery store, right? So, so
the only other thing that'smore confusing is trying to
figure out which bag of chipsto, to buy right before
a Super Bowl or Great Cup. Butreally there's a lot of choices
(03:03):
, uh, when it comes to, to eggsin the grocery store. And maybe
it'd be good for everybody tojust get a basic sense of what
some of those choices are and,and then maybe we can walk
through some of them .
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Sure. So one of the big ones where people are
confused is between white andbrown eggs. And people think,
well, brown eggs must behealthier, but in fact the
color of the egg depends on thebreed of the chicken. And so I
hear from people all the time,oh, I only buy brown eggs
(03:38):
because they're, they're betterfor you and in fact choose the
ones that you want. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah. It's kind of interesting when you think
about that, right? Like it's,it's what's inside the egg
that actually counts,right? Nobody, at least, I
don't know if anybody who eatsthe actual shell, maybe some
people do, but that can't begood for you. I'm thinking,
,
Speaker 3 (04:01):
You may have some nutrients, but , but, but I I ,
I haven't seen any recipes forthem, so, so no. And then it
comes to, you know, free range, free run , Omega-3, vitamin D
enhanced, and people are veryconfused about that. And so
when it comes to free rangeversus free run, free run means
(04:27):
that the hens have the run ofthe hen house . They can run
around the hen house , but theydon't really go outside
compared to the free range,which can, they can run around
the hen house , but they alsogo outside when weather permits
and then they eatgrasses. They may eat insects.
(04:49):
And so their taste may beslightly different, or the
color of the oak would bedifferent than let's say just a
regular egg . Right?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah. And I think that comes into to some of the
different, you know, choicesfarmers make when they're
building their barns, as wellas the demands that consumers
have for farmers to make onthat.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Clinton , I know there are different housing
systems for the hens. Are theredifferent rules that apply to
the various housing systems?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
There's a uniform kind of system of auditing. So
for example , um, the , the wayour farm and , and any other
Canadian egg farm here inCanada is audited, they will go
through and look at , uh, avariety of different food
safety and animal carepractices that are happening in
(05:41):
the barn. And it reallywouldn't matter whether or not
it's , uh, enriched housingsystem or a free run or a free
range barn. So that is astandard across any farm and,
and they are third partyaudited on that program to make
sure that farmers are doingwhat we say we're doing right,
(06:02):
and , and we should be held tothose standards. So it's, it's
things like making sure thatthere's adequate space for the
birds and , uh, adequate nestboxes or, you know, in our barn
there's perch kind of thingswhere they can jump onto and,
and just display some of thosenatural attributes of, of a
(06:23):
chicken. So in order for us toeven sell, and I mentioned
before that we sell to Star Eggand Saskatoon, in order for us
to sell to Star Egg, we need topass those programs and, and we
need to have a certificationthat verifies that we are
upholding all those standards.
So yes. Yeah, e every farmer isupheld to those standards.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Frequently when you're looking at recipes, the
recipes usually call for alarge egg , but I mean, we've
got, you know, peewee and extralarge. So how do hens give us
different size eggs, gluten ,
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Before we, we had the egg farm, I , I actually
didn't really know either, butthe way it works is when we
bring in our, our he toactually start laying eggs, you
know, they're fairly uniform,but just the same as any other
animal or even humans. We'reall a little bit different,
right? So sometimes those henswill lay larger eggs quicker
(07:25):
than others. Some of them willbe a little bit slower, but
when the hen initially startslaying eggs, you actually get a
higher portion of jumbo eggs.
So those are those eggs thatare actually 70 grams or
bigger. And what happens is thehen might actually miss a day
of laying an egg and put twoyolks in the same egg, making a
(07:48):
bigger egg. You also have the,if they are laying , um, pretty
much every day you get thelittler eggs, so peewee eggs or
a small egg, so you get more ofthose. So as they actually
mature and get older, youdefinitely have more of a
uniform, kind of what we wouldcall a large egg . We don't
(08:09):
actually want them jumbo size ,we want them large and, and
fairly uniform. And I thinkright now where , where our
flock's at, they would be rightaround 85%, I think large
sized, which is, is really, youknow, what you said, all the
recipes asked for that, allthe, you know, when you look at
the nutritional labels , um, interms of what your dietary
(08:32):
needs are, a lot of that willbe based on a large egg. So,
Speaker 3 (08:38):
So Clinton , how long does it take for an egg
that's been the hen? How longdoes it take to get that egg to
market?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So every day we actually , uh, pick the eggs .
So the , the way our barnworks, it's, it's one of those
free run barns. So the , thechickens actually lay , uh,
their eggs in a nest box and itrolls onto a conveyor, but then
when the eggs come up, they'reright away put into a cool
room. They're kind of put onthese cartons and, and packed
(09:08):
away on pallets. And then atruck comes and picks those
pallets up once a week. Sodepending on when you go to the
grocery store, those eggs mightbe 24 hours , uh, after lane .
And at most it would beprobably a week to , to week
and a half old when you , youpick 'em up in the grocery
(09:28):
store. But that's actually oneof the things, the way it works
in the system here, the eggsare supplied to what the
consumer's needs are, right?
So, so we try not to have toomuch of an oversupply, not too
much of an undersupply to makesure that eggs are as fresh as
possible for those who are, areactually eating them. So that's
(09:51):
kind of where you get to that.
So what about, you know, and ,and again going back to, you
know, the average personlooking at that shelf in the
freezer or the fridge sectionin the grocery store, what are
some of the other things thatare options for you? We talked
a little bit about the, thecolor and the, the size and
the, the different , uh,housing kind of things, but
(10:12):
what about things like vitaminD or Omega-3? Like how does
that relate to your, yourhealth? Or is it, does it
relate at all?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Actually, eggs naturally have vitamin D in
them. The chickens produce eggswith vitamin D, but if they're
exposed to more UV light, thenthe amount of vitamin D and the
eggs are increased. And sothat's one of the things people
are looking for more vitamin Dthese days. Vitamin D is
(10:45):
important for calciumabsorption. It's also important
in healthy immune systemfunction. And these days people
are, are concerned about theirimmune systems. So that's one
of the things. So it will sayif the hens are exposed to more
UV light, it will mentionvitamin D on the label. Then
(11:08):
when you come to , um, Omega-3fats, again, that's a nutrient
that we need more of andespecially for people who are
not eating fish, cold water ,fish omega threes are
associated with heart health,for example. And so we do need
(11:28):
more of these people aren'teating as much fish as, as is
recommended. And so if the hensare fed an Omega-3 rich diet,
then they produce eggs withmore Omega-3 in them now. But
there are different kinds ofOmega-3 rich diets. So you can
(11:50):
get hens that are fed flaxseed,for example, which contains a
LA , uh, which is an Omega-3fatty acid, but, but hens are
also fed Omega-3 oils and therewill be a different kind of
Omega-3 found in those eggs. Sofor example, there'll be more
(12:10):
DHA, which has differentfunctions than a LA
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I'll use my farm as an example for this. So, so we
have our eggs are are vitamin Dand, and , uh, Omega-3 enriched
as well. So you mentioned flaxmeal or flax seed , and that's
primarily the source of Omega-3enriching that goes into the
diets with, with our hands. Butthere was a period of time
(12:36):
where we actually triedsomething a little bit
different, which was calledcamelina oil, and it didn't
really work so good with our,the , the birds didn't really
like it, so it didn't last verylong. But it , the idea was
good to try a different sourceto see if, you know, the
content would be different.
But, and I was trying toremember whether or not there
was any difference in the tasteof the egg afterwards. And to
(12:59):
be frank, I can't even rememberseeing the telling if there was
any difference in that. But,but it is kind of interesting,
right. Well
Speaker 3 (13:07):
It , one thing that I as a consumer don't think
about, it's interesting we lookat what we as humans like to
eat, but, but animals have havepreferences too.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yes, they do. And they did not like that
. So, and it's no differentthan you or I and , and I think
of my daughter's sense of tasteright now with certain things
that I cook, and maybe it's thecook, maybe it's not the food.
However, there's certain thingsthat my son will just gobble up
and my my , uh, daughter kindof pokes her nose up at. But
(13:41):
the other thing that I wasgonna mention is, is , uh, you
do see in the stores now, andagain, this comes back to the
choice of consumers, some otherlike organic eggs, right? The
and or different egg products.
And maybe you could just take acouple minutes and and talk
about some of those, maybe someof the processed eggs that
might be of use to peoplepurchasing in , in the stores
(14:02):
as well.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Well, so you can get liquid egg whites, you can get
liquid eggs, for example, andthey're all pasteurized, which
means that where they differfrom regular eggs is that they
can be used raw. So it'srecommended that we not eat
(14:25):
eggs from , that are in theshell, that we eat them raw
because of the possibility offoodborne illness. But what's
wonderful about the liquid eggsis that they, because they're
pasteurized, then the , um, thebacteria in them would be
killed. And so if somebodywants to make a dessert with
(14:46):
egg whites that are uncooked ,then I , that's what I
recommend to them . If I'mtalking to a client, or the
same thing with liquid eggs,that's the whole egg that
includes the yolk and thewhites. And again, if there's a
recipe that, that people wannause that are , you're eating
raw eggs, that's the way to go.
(15:07):
It's also convenient. I mean,they're in portable containers
and so sometimes people want to, let's say cut calories. They
may want to have two eggs astheir , you know, as part of an
omelet, which is therecommended portion, but then
they can throw in lots of theliquid egg whites and make it
(15:30):
into a bigger, bigger portion,which is an easy way to do
that.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
And , and this kind of gets to the question, you
know, from a dietician'sperspective, like what is that
difference between the eggwhite and the egg yolk?
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Well, the egg yolk and the egg whites, both of
them contain protein, theycontain different nutrients,
but the egg whites don't haveany fat and because they don't
have any fat, they are muchlower in calories. And so it's
just a way to , to enhance theamount of food that you're
(16:09):
having. So if you're making anomelet and you're throwing in a
whole bunch of vegetables, forexample, and you're adding in
egg whites, you've got a biggervolume of food. But , um, but
the nutrients are different andso frequently it's changing
over the, over the past while,but frequently I have found
that people would only eat eggwhites because of that, that
(16:32):
whole myth that eggs, eatingeggs will boost your
cholesterol. And so peoplewould eat egg white omelets and
not include the oak . But whenI'm counseling, I'll suggest to
people that they, for satietyand nutrition, that they
include the oak .
Speaker 2 (16:54):
So , and is that to balance out the two? Is that,
is that why the , because I ,and, and again, forgive me
because I don't, I don't knowthe background on this, but
there are two different typesof cholesterol in each of the,
the sides, right? The white andthe , the yolk, correct
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Or not? Um , I , the white doesn't really have much.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
There's no cholesterol in there .
Speaker 3 (17:17):
No . So it's , that's the difference . It's
the yolk , but people don'trealize that the cholesterol
and eggs, the dietarycholesterol, the cholesterol
that we eat, it's been shownthat it's more saturated fat in
food and not cholesterol thatcan boost cholesterol, blood
(17:37):
cholesterol levels. So it'sreally, it's something that
sort of hearkens back to theearly, early research on
cholesterol. We used to thinkthat if you ate cholesterol,
then it boosted your bloodcholesterol when in fact it's
not the case. And I mean, thereare a few people that may be
(17:59):
sensitive to dietarycholesterol, but what happens
is if you're including the yolkin your diet in the meal, then
it will provide more satiety,you'll feel more satisfied. And
in fact, I, when I'mcounseling, when people tell me
that they're craving sugar andthey're nibbling all day, one
(18:21):
of the things that I will sayto them, okay, for two weeks I
want to eat two eggs every dayat breakfast and let's see what
happens to your cravings. Andthey always come back and tell
me that they're much moresatisfied and they're not
craving sweets. And so that'ssomething that I'd recommend on
(18:41):
a regular basis.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, and , and I know from even myself when I
kind of switched to having twoeggs on toast every morning, it
, it really does kind of keepyou going for a good part of
the morning and you're nottrying to knock over somebody
to get out a sandwichfor lunchtime, right.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Or looking for the jelly beans .
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yeah, , my
wife hides them , so I can't
find them . Anyways, ,So this kind of brings us to ,
uh, the segment of the podcast,which we call the fun farm
fact. Um, and we spoke to alittle bit before in terms of
the different colors of theyolks that , uh, you may see in
(19:23):
the grocery stores. Really thiscomes back to whatever the hen
eats determines that color ofthe yolk. And uh, for those of
us who live in western Canada,predominantly the diets out
here are going to be wheatbased for energy. So they're
gonna have a little bit of apale or yellow yolk . Those of
you who live in Ontario East,you're gonna find that that's
(19:46):
gonna be a little bit darkeryellow, predominantly due to
the corn-based diet. So, youknow, and I did find it when I
moved , uh, from Saskatchewan,I lived in Virginia for a
little bit and I couldn'tfigure out why I kept on
getting these, these weird eggsthat were kind of orange in
color. And then I realizedafterwards that it, it actually
has everything to do with thecorn-based diet, not wheat. So,
(20:10):
so if you see that a as aconsumer out there in the
grocery store, it's 100% to dowith just what those hands are
eating .
Speaker 3 (20:18):
But what's interesting about that Clinton
is that corn contains thecarotinoids or pigments called
lutein and z , and thosepigments are carotinoids are ,
um, associated with protectionagainst vision problems such as
(20:38):
macular degeneration . So , andthey're , they act as
antioxidants. So eating deepercolored is actually, is
actually providing morenutrition, more nutrition. But
, but, but what's funny is thatI've, I've heard from people ,
um, when they've traveled todifferent places and they see
(20:59):
almost orangey colored yolks,they're turned off them , they
think, I don't wanna eat these.
Like, what's what's wrong withthese yolks ? And in
fact, I will encourage them toeat them. It's like it's if
you're eating corn or you'reeating corn based foods, then
you are getting more of thesecompounds. So colors are good
(21:20):
in food .
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Okay , Rosie , I I , it's interesting because I know
for myself, you know, I'maround eggs quite a bit, but
don't necessarily know all thenutritional benefits of eggs as
well. Like I hear it's, it's avery complete protein. I hear
they're , they're a good sourceof protein for the price that
they have. Do you wanna explaina little bit more, first of
(21:45):
all, what, what is a completeprotein? I actually don't know
what that is. , andthen some of the nutritional
things around eggs.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
So proteins are made up of amino acids, and there
are some amino acids that ourbodies cannot make, whereas
there are other ones that, youknow, if you eat some different
proteins and some amino acidsyour body can put together ,
um, can make other ones. So theessential amino acids, if a
(22:17):
food has all of the aminoacids, the food is considered
to be a complete protein. Andso eggs are a complete protein
animal products are completeprotein. Some plant products
are complete proteins such assoy or quinoa, whereas other
ones, when you eat other foods,then if you eat two different
(22:42):
plant foods together, they willcompliment each other and then
you'll have complete proteins.
But eggs are the real deal.
They have complete protein,they're high in protein, and so
they're, they're really good interms of meeting protein needs.
And so for example , um, aspeople get older, it's really
(23:05):
important to spread yourprotein out through the day. We
live in a society that for manyyears people would eat their
protein at dinner at night whenthe family was together. But in
fact, the research saysspreading it out at breakfast,
lunch and, and dinner or afterexercising will give you more
(23:28):
benefits from your protein. Andso eggs are wonderful and
they're convenient and they'realso, they're really good on
the budget. If people are not,you know , and if they don't
wanna be eating meat , forexample , eggs are great ,
great way to go in terms ofprotein, but they're also
(23:49):
packed with a lot of othernutrients we're looking at.
There's iron and eggs, there'sB vitamins, there's uh, there's
selenium, there's , um, and thefats are healthy fats. So eggs
are really good nutritionalchoice. So Clinton, besides all
those other nutrients, a lesserknown nutrient that eggs are ,
(24:14):
are great source of is choline.
And it's one that's importantfor brain health, brain health
for both the person who'seating it, but also for
pregnant women, it's alsoreally important. And brain
health is something that we'relooking at more and more with
our aging population. So eggshave got them,
Speaker 2 (24:36):
I went grocery shopping this last weekend and
I'm based in Saskatoon, but I ,there was a sale at the grocery
store that I go to for twodozen eggs for $7. And I
thought to myself, well, $3 and50 cents for a a dozen eggs,
that seems relativelyinexpensive. Like, I can, I can
have quite a few meals withthis. And this kind of gets to
the serving size. What wouldyour recommended serving beef
(25:01):
for somebody when, when you'retrying to look at, you know,
having a, a decent proteindiet, and how many eggs should
we be consuming every day justto keep that?
Speaker 3 (25:12):
So if you're, if you're taking in, if you're
consuming two eggs, you'regetting 14, 15 grams of
protein, that's pretty highcompared to a lot of plant
foods. When we're looking at,for example, older people, the
research is saying that weshould be getting in about 20
(25:34):
grams of protein at a , at ameal. So just having those eggs
and then adding some dairyproducts or adding some whole
grains and beans and so forth,the eggs really get you started
on that, on that foundation. SoClinton, I've seen some things
written on social media thatsay that you don't need to
(25:59):
refrigerate eggs, and that'ssomething as a dietician I
don't agree with, but as an eggfarmer, tell me your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
It is different here in Canada and the United States
than , say, if you were in theEuropean Union. And, and the
reason is here in Canada, theway the the CFIA in Health
Canada work, and similar to theUSDA south of the border is
when those eggs come in to begraded at the different grading
station, for example, we useStar Egg in Saskatoon, those
(26:30):
eggs are washed. Now, when thehen lays the egg, there's a
really thin protective coatingthat is around the, the egg.
Now, if you don't wash thategg, you can actually leave it
on the counter. And that's whatmakes it different between here
in North America and Europe.
When Europe, they don't washthe eggs. So you can actually
(26:53):
leave them on the , the counterat room temperature and they
will last quite a while longer.
However, here in Canada, youmust refrigerate as soon as the
, that egg is washed and it'sfor their own benefit, because
you can imagine there'sdifferent, you know, feces and
stuff like that that could getin there that you want to wash
(27:14):
that egg to make sure it'ssafe. Once you wash it, as soon
as you get it, it's, you'rebuying it in the refrigerator
and when you bring it backhome, it has to go on the
refrigerator. So just to dispelany miss out there, yes, you do
need to refrigerate your eggshere in Canada.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Now, how do farmers ensure that the eggs that are
produced on their farms, how onyour farm, for example, that
they're safely harvested andstored?
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah, so one of the biggest things when it comes
to, to the eggs is making sureevery day you're running
through the egg belts andyou're putting them in packages
and putting them into the, thecool room. And here's where the
science kind of comes into it,right? So you wanna make sure
that, and predominantly everyfarmer has a, a packer. So the
eggs kind of come in onconveyors, they're put in these
(28:07):
two and a half dozen littlecarton things and you stack 'em
together. And then right awaythey go into a cool room and
the interaction between each ofthose eggs and, you know, my
hand is zero. They, they reallynever, I touch the cartons and,
and we have a full-timeemployee who works with us. We
(28:29):
touch the cartons, but younever actually touch the eggs.
So they pretty much go from thehen on that conveyor into the
cool room. And you know, evenwhen they go to get processed,
they get washed and put in acontainer. My hands never touch
them. So all these things thatwe do to mitigate and, and
remove the possibility of, ofany possible contamination we
(28:53):
do. And , and , uh, that's kindof just part of the process to
make sure we have safe eggsand, and , uh, abide by the,
the rules that are out there.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
But then it's up to us as consumers to make sure
that when we're handling them ,that we are washing our hands
before we handle them and afterwe handle them and practicing
good food safety practices. Andso it's not just the farmer,
it's also the consumer.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Excellent point.
Yes, you're right. Thank youvery much Rosie, for being a
guest on the Ask A Farmerpodcast, and we look forward to
having you again sometime. Iwant to thank you for taking
the time to listen to our Ask aFarmer podcast. We at Canadian
(29:48):
Food Focus value the input fromour listeners and ask that you
share the podcast with yourfriends and family. Remember,
this is a two-Way street, so weseek your input for future
segments that are of interestto you about food and farming.
To do this, please click on theAsk us icon at the top of our
(30:09):
website, canadian foodfocus.org . While you're there,
feel free to follow ournumerous social media links and
sign up for our newsletter .
This segment was produced andedited by Angela Larson,
research and Writing by DorothyLong and Penny Eaton, music by
Andy Elson . I'm your hostClinton Moncho , and from all
(30:31):
of us at Canadian Food Focus,we wish you good health and
great Eats.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
From Canadian Food Focus. This is Ask a Farmer.
I'm your host Clinton Manuk . ASaskatchewan farmer. In this
podcast, we talk to foodexperts to answer your
questions about your food.
(00:30):
Well, welcome to the podcast,everyone. Today we're gonna be
talking a little bit more abouteggs. I'm gonna disclose right
off the top, I own an egg farmwith my brother. So I obviously
know some of the ins and outsof eggs. However, I don't know
a lot of the nutritional thingsand the different choices that
you as consumers actually seein the grocery section . So
(00:54):
what we're doing today is we'regonna have a little bit of a
discussion about why there areso many different egg options.
What are those options and howthat relates to your
nutritional needs. So we arevery, very happy to have Rosie
Schwartz, who is a registereddietician with us. Rosie, how
are you doing today? I'm
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Fine, thank you, Clinton.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So if you wanna just give a little bit of a , you
know, intro of yourself andsome of your experience to make
sure all our listeners knowyou.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I am a consulting dietician . I'm in private
practice in Toronto, andthrough the years, what I've
tried to do is take thescientific information about
food and and health andtranslate that into delicious
food for Canadians. And at thesame time, try to bust a lot of
(01:48):
those myths that are out there.
Just have people enjoy theirfood and eat healthy.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Sometimes
right, that get us, thateverybody looks into their,
their diets with a fine toothcomb or a magnifying glass. And
sometimes it's just as simpleas what you just said, isn't
it?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And one of the things that people try to do is
when they talk about eatinghealthy, and especially at this
time of year, they talk aboutwhat they're going to cut outta
their diets. And what theyreally should be doing is
looking at what they should beincluding so that they feel
good today , they've got energyto, to live a , a busy life,
(02:34):
but also to promote good healthlater. And it's about what you
eat, not what you don't eat.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So I guess this leads to the heart of what we
want to talk about today,Rosie. One of the things that I
always see when I go groceryshopping is the confused eyes
in the egg section of thegrocery store, right? So, so
the only other thing that'smore confusing is trying to
figure out which bag of chipsto, to buy
a Super Bowl or Great Cup. Butreally there's a lot of choices
(03:03):
, uh, when it comes to, to eggsin the grocery store. And maybe
it'd be good for everybody tojust get a basic sense of what
some of those choices are and,and then maybe we can walk
through some of them .
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Sure. So one of the big ones where people are
confused is between white andbrown eggs. And people think,
well, brown eggs must behealthier, but in fact the
color of the egg depends on thebreed of the chicken. And so I
hear from people all the time,oh, I only buy brown eggs
(03:38):
because they're, they're betterfor you and in fact choose the
ones that you want. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah. It's kind of interesting when you think
about that, right? Like it's,it's what's inside the egg
don't know if anybody who eatsthe actual shell, maybe some
people do, but that can't begood for you. I'm thinking,
Speaker 3 (04:01):
You may have some nutrients, but , but, but I I ,
I haven't seen any recipes forthem, so, so no. And then it
comes to, you know, free range, free run , Omega-3, vitamin D
enhanced, and people are veryconfused about that. And so
when it comes to free rangeversus free run, free run means
(04:27):
that the hens have the run ofthe hen house . They can run
around the hen house , but theydon't really go outside
compared to the free range,which can, they can run around
the hen house , but they alsogo outside when weather permits
(04:49):
And so their taste may beslightly different, or the
color of the oak would bedifferent than let's say just a
regular egg . Right?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah. And I think that comes into to some of the
different, you know, choicesfarmers make when they're
building their barns, as wellas the demands that consumers
have for farmers to make onthat.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Clinton , I know there are different housing
systems for the hens. Are theredifferent rules that apply to
the various housing systems?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
There's a uniform kind of system of auditing. So
for example , um, the , the wayour farm and , and any other
Canadian egg farm here inCanada is audited, they will go
through and look at , uh, avariety of different food
safety and animal carepractices that are happening in
(05:41):
the barn. And it reallywouldn't matter whether or not
it's , uh, enriched housingsystem or a free run or a free
range barn. So that is astandard across any farm and,
and they are third partyaudited on that program to make
sure that farmers are doingwhat we say we're doing right,
(06:02):
and , and we should be held tothose standards. So it's, it's
things like making sure thatthere's adequate space for the
birds and , uh, adequate nestboxes or, you know, in our barn
there's perch kind of thingswhere they can jump onto and,
and just display some of thosenatural attributes of, of a
(06:23):
chicken. So in order for us toeven sell, and I mentioned
before that we sell to Star Eggand Saskatoon, in order for us
to sell to Star Egg, we need topass those programs and, and we
need to have a certificationthat verifies that we are
upholding all those standards.
So yes. Yeah, e every farmer isupheld to those standards.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Frequently when you're looking at recipes, the
recipes usually call for alarge egg , but I mean, we've
got, you know, peewee and extralarge. So how do hens give us
different size eggs, gluten ,
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Before we, we had the egg farm, I , I actually
didn't really know either, butthe way it works is when we
bring in our, our he toactually start laying eggs, you
know, they're fairly uniform,but just the same as any other
animal or even humans. We'reall a little bit different,
right? So sometimes those henswill lay larger eggs quicker
(07:25):
than others. Some of them willbe a little bit slower, but
when the hen initially startslaying eggs, you actually get a
higher portion of jumbo eggs.
So those are those eggs thatare actually 70 grams or
bigger. And what happens is thehen might actually miss a day
of laying an egg and put twoyolks in the same egg, making a
(07:48):
bigger egg. You also have the,if they are laying , um, pretty
much every day you get thelittler eggs, so peewee eggs or
a small egg, so you get more ofthose. So as they actually
mature and get older, youdefinitely have more of a
uniform, kind of what we wouldcall a large egg . We don't
(08:09):
actually want them jumbo size ,we want them large and, and
fairly uniform. And I thinkright now where , where our
flock's at, they would be rightaround 85%, I think large
sized, which is, is really, youknow, what you said, all the
recipes asked for that, allthe, you know, when you look at
the nutritional labels , um, interms of what your dietary
(08:32):
needs are, a lot of that willbe based on a large egg. So,
Speaker 3 (08:38):
So Clinton , how long does it take for an egg
that's been the hen? How longdoes it take to get that egg to
market?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So every day we actually , uh, pick the eggs .
So the , the way our barnworks, it's, it's one of those
free run barns. So the , thechickens actually lay , uh,
their eggs in a nest box and itrolls onto a conveyor, but then
when the eggs come up, they'reright away put into a cool
room. They're kind of put onthese cartons and, and packed
(09:08):
away on pallets. And then atruck comes and picks those
pallets up once a week. Sodepending on when you go to the
grocery store, those eggs mightbe 24 hours , uh, after lane .
And at most it would beprobably a week to , to week
and a half old when you , youpick 'em up in the grocery
(09:28):
store. But that's actually oneof the things, the way it works
in the system here, the eggsare supplied to what the
consumer's needs are, right?
So, so we try not to have toomuch of an oversupply, not too
much of an undersupply to makesure that eggs are as fresh as
possible for those who are, areactually eating them. So that's
(09:51):
kind of where you get to that.
So what about, you know, and ,and again going back to, you
know, the average personlooking at that shelf in the
freezer or the fridge sectionin the grocery store, what are
some of the other things thatare options for you? We talked
a little bit about the, thecolor and the, the size and
the, the different , uh,housing kind of things, but
(10:12):
what about things like vitaminD or Omega-3? Like how does
that relate to your, yourhealth? Or is it, does it
relate at all?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Actually, eggs naturally have vitamin D in
them. The chickens produce eggswith vitamin D, but if they're
exposed to more UV light, thenthe amount of vitamin D and the
eggs are increased. And sothat's one of the things people
are looking for more vitamin Dthese days. Vitamin D is
(10:45):
important for calciumabsorption. It's also important
in healthy immune systemfunction. And these days people
are, are concerned about theirimmune systems. So that's one
of the things. So it will sayif the hens are exposed to more
UV light, it will mentionvitamin D on the label. Then
(11:08):
when you come to , um, Omega-3fats, again, that's a nutrient
that we need more of andespecially for people who are
not eating fish, cold water ,fish omega threes are
associated with heart health,for example. And so we do need
(11:28):
more of these people aren'teating as much fish as, as is
recommended. And so if the hensare fed an Omega-3 rich diet,
then they produce eggs withmore Omega-3 in them now. But
there are different kinds ofOmega-3 rich diets. So you can
(11:50):
get hens that are fed flaxseed,for example, which contains a
LA , uh, which is an Omega-3fatty acid, but, but hens are
also fed Omega-3 oils and therewill be a different kind of
Omega-3 found in those eggs. Sofor example, there'll be more
(12:10):
DHA, which has differentfunctions than a LA
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I'll use my farm as an example for this. So, so we
have our eggs are are vitamin Dand, and , uh, Omega-3 enriched
as well. So you mentioned flaxmeal or flax seed , and that's
primarily the source of Omega-3enriching that goes into the
diets with, with our hands. Butthere was a period of time
(12:36):
where we actually triedsomething a little bit
different, which was calledcamelina oil, and it didn't
really work so good with our,the , the birds didn't really
like it, so it didn't last verylong. But it , the idea was
good to try a different sourceto see if, you know, the
content would be different.
But, and I was trying toremember whether or not there
was any difference in the tasteof the egg afterwards. And to
(12:59):
be frank, I can't even rememberseeing the telling if there was
any difference in that. But,but it is kind of interesting,
right. Well
Speaker 3 (13:07):
It , one thing that I as a consumer don't think
about, it's interesting we lookat what we as humans like to
eat, but, but animals have havepreferences too.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yes, they do. And they did not like that
. So, and it's no differentthan you or I and , and I think
of my daughter's sense of tasteright now with certain things
that I cook, and maybe it's thecook, maybe it's not the food.
However, there's certain thingsthat my son will just gobble up
and my my , uh, daughter kindof pokes her nose up at. But
(13:41):
the other thing that I wasgonna mention is, is , uh, you
do see in the stores now, andagain, this comes back to the
choice of consumers, some otherlike organic eggs, right? The
and or different egg products.
And maybe you could just take acouple minutes and and talk
about some of those, maybe someof the processed eggs that
might be of use to peoplepurchasing in , in the stores
(14:02):
as well.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Well, so you can get liquid egg whites, you can get
liquid eggs, for example, andthey're all pasteurized, which
means that where they differfrom regular eggs is that they
can be used raw. So it'srecommended that we not eat
(14:25):
eggs from , that are in theshell, that we eat them raw
because of the possibility offoodborne illness. But what's
wonderful about the liquid eggsis that they, because they're
pasteurized, then the , um, thebacteria in them would be
killed. And so if somebodywants to make a dessert with
(14:46):
egg whites that are uncooked ,then I , that's what I
recommend to them . If I'mtalking to a client, or the
same thing with liquid eggs,that's the whole egg that
includes the yolk and thewhites. And again, if there's a
recipe that, that people wannause that are , you're eating
raw eggs, that's the way to go.
(15:07):
It's also convenient. I mean,they're in portable containers
and so sometimes people want to, let's say cut calories. They
may want to have two eggs astheir , you know, as part of an
omelet, which is therecommended portion, but then
they can throw in lots of theliquid egg whites and make it
(15:30):
into a bigger, bigger portion,which is an easy way to do
that.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
And , and this kind of gets to the question, you
know, from a dietician'sperspective, like what is that
difference between the eggwhite and the egg yolk?
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Well, the egg yolk and the egg whites, both of
them contain protein, theycontain different nutrients,
but the egg whites don't haveany fat and because they don't
have any fat, they are muchlower in calories. And so it's
just a way to , to enhance theamount of food that you're
(16:09):
having. So if you're making anomelet and you're throwing in a
whole bunch of vegetables, forexample, and you're adding in
egg whites, you've got a biggervolume of food. But , um, but
the nutrients are different andso frequently it's changing
over the, over the past while,but frequently I have found
that people would only eat eggwhites because of that, that
(16:32):
whole myth that eggs, eatingeggs will boost your
cholesterol. And so peoplewould eat egg white omelets and
not include the oak . But whenI'm counseling, I'll suggest to
people that they, for satietyand nutrition, that they
include the oak .
Speaker 2 (16:54):
So , and is that to balance out the two? Is that,
is that why the , because I ,and, and again, forgive me
because I don't, I don't knowthe background on this, but
there are two different typesof cholesterol in each of the,
the sides, right? The white andthe , the yolk, correct
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Or not? Um , I , the white doesn't really have much.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
There's no cholesterol in there .
Speaker 3 (17:17):
No . So it's , that's the difference . It's
the yolk , but people don'trealize that the cholesterol
and eggs, the dietarycholesterol, the cholesterol
that we eat, it's been shownthat it's more saturated fat in
food and not cholesterol thatcan boost cholesterol, blood
(17:37):
cholesterol levels. So it'sreally, it's something that
sort of hearkens back to theearly, early research on
cholesterol. We used to thinkthat if you ate cholesterol,
then it boosted your bloodcholesterol when in fact it's
not the case. And I mean, thereare a few people that may be
(17:59):
sensitive to dietarycholesterol, but what happens
is if you're including the yolkin your diet in the meal, then
it will provide more satiety,you'll feel more satisfied. And
in fact, I, when I'mcounseling, when people tell me
that they're craving sugar andthey're nibbling all day, one
(18:21):
of the things that I will sayto them, okay, for two weeks I
want to eat two eggs every dayat breakfast and let's see what
happens to your cravings. Andthey always come back and tell
me that they're much moresatisfied and they're not
craving sweets. And so that'ssomething that I'd recommend on
(18:41):
a regular basis.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, and , and I know from even myself when I
kind of switched to having twoeggs on toast every morning, it
, it really does kind of keepyou going for a good part of
the morning and you're nottrying to knock over somebody
to get
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Or looking for the jelly beans .
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yeah,
find them . Anyways,
uh, the segment of the podcast,which we call the fun farm
fact. Um, and we spoke to alittle bit before in terms of
the different colors of theyolks that , uh, you may see in
(19:23):
the grocery stores. Really thiscomes back to whatever the hen
eats determines that color ofthe yolk. And uh, for those of
us who live in western Canada,predominantly the diets out
here are going to be wheatbased for energy. So they're
gonna have a little bit of apale or yellow yolk . Those of
you who live in Ontario East,you're gonna find that that's
(19:46):
gonna be a little bit darkeryellow, predominantly due to
the corn-based diet. So, youknow, and I did find it when I
moved , uh, from Saskatchewan,I lived in Virginia for a
little bit and I couldn'tfigure out why I kept on
getting these, these weird eggsthat were kind of orange in
color. And then I realizedafterwards that it, it actually
has everything to do with thecorn-based diet, not wheat. So,
(20:10):
so if you see that a as aconsumer out there in the
grocery store, it's 100% to dowith just what those hands are
eating .
Speaker 3 (20:18):
But what's interesting about that Clinton
is that corn contains thecarotinoids or pigments called
lutein and z , and thosepigments are carotinoids are ,
um, associated with protectionagainst vision problems such as
(20:38):
macular degeneration . So , andthey're , they act as
antioxidants. So eating deepercolored is actually, is
actually providing morenutrition, more nutrition. But
, but, but what's funny is thatI've, I've heard from people ,
um, when they've traveled todifferent places and they see
(20:59):
almost orangey colored yolks,they're turned off them , they
think, I don't wanna eat these.
Like, what's what's wrong withthese yolks
fact, I will encourage them toeat them. It's like it's if
you're eating corn or you'reeating corn based foods, then
you are getting more of thesecompounds. So colors are good
(21:20):
in food .
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Okay , Rosie , I I , it's interesting because I know
for myself, you know, I'maround eggs quite a bit, but
don't necessarily know all thenutritional benefits of eggs as
well. Like I hear it's, it's avery complete protein. I hear
they're , they're a good sourceof protein for the price that
they have. Do you wanna explaina little bit more, first of
(21:45):
all, what, what is a completeprotein? I actually don't know
what that is.
things around eggs.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
So proteins are made up of amino acids, and there
are some amino acids that ourbodies cannot make, whereas
there are other ones that, youknow, if you eat some different
proteins and some amino acidsyour body can put together ,
um, can make other ones. So theessential amino acids, if a
(22:17):
food has all of the aminoacids, the food is considered
to be a complete protein. Andso eggs are a complete protein
animal products are completeprotein. Some plant products
are complete proteins such assoy or quinoa, whereas other
ones, when you eat other foods,then if you eat two different
(22:42):
plant foods together, they willcompliment each other and then
you'll have complete proteins.
But eggs are the real deal.
They have complete protein,they're high in protein, and so
they're, they're really good interms of meeting protein needs.
And so for example , um, aspeople get older, it's really
(23:05):
important to spread yourprotein out through the day. We
live in a society that for manyyears people would eat their
protein at dinner at night whenthe family was together. But in
fact, the research saysspreading it out at breakfast,
lunch and, and dinner or afterexercising will give you more
(23:28):
benefits from your protein. Andso eggs are wonderful and
they're convenient and they'realso, they're really good on
the budget. If people are not,you know , and if they don't
wanna be eating meat , forexample , eggs are great ,
great way to go in terms ofprotein, but they're also
(23:49):
packed with a lot of othernutrients we're looking at.
There's iron and eggs, there'sB vitamins, there's uh, there's
selenium, there's , um, and thefats are healthy fats. So eggs
are really good nutritionalchoice. So Clinton, besides all
those other nutrients, a lesserknown nutrient that eggs are ,
(24:14):
are great source of is choline.
And it's one that's importantfor brain health, brain health
for both the person who'seating it, but also for
pregnant women, it's alsoreally important. And brain
health is something that we'relooking at more and more with
our aging population. So eggshave got them,
Speaker 2 (24:36):
I went grocery shopping this last weekend and
I'm based in Saskatoon, but I ,there was a sale at the grocery
store that I go to for twodozen eggs for $7. And I
thought to myself, well, $3 and50 cents for a a dozen eggs,
that seems relativelyinexpensive. Like, I can, I can
have quite a few meals withthis. And this kind of gets to
the serving size. What wouldyour recommended serving beef
(25:01):
for somebody when, when you'retrying to look at, you know,
having a, a decent proteindiet, and how many eggs should
we be consuming every day justto keep that?
Speaker 3 (25:12):
So if you're, if you're taking in, if you're
consuming two eggs, you'regetting 14, 15 grams of
protein, that's pretty highcompared to a lot of plant
foods. When we're looking at,for example, older people, the
research is saying that weshould be getting in about 20
(25:34):
grams of protein at a , at ameal. So just having those eggs
and then adding some dairyproducts or adding some whole
grains and beans and so forth,the eggs really get you started
on that, on that foundation. SoClinton, I've seen some things
written on social media thatsay that you don't need to
(25:59):
refrigerate eggs, and that'ssomething as a dietician I
don't agree with, but as an eggfarmer, tell me your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
It is different here in Canada and the United States
than , say, if you were in theEuropean Union. And, and the
reason is here in Canada, theway the the CFIA in Health
Canada work, and similar to theUSDA south of the border is
when those eggs come in to begraded at the different grading
station, for example, we useStar Egg in Saskatoon, those
(26:30):
eggs are washed. Now, when thehen lays the egg, there's a
really thin protective coatingthat is around the, the egg.
Now, if you don't wash thategg, you can actually leave it
on the counter. And that's whatmakes it different between here
in North America and Europe.
When Europe, they don't washthe eggs. So you can actually
(26:53):
leave them on the , the counterat room temperature and they
will last quite a while longer.
However, here in Canada, youmust refrigerate as soon as the
, that egg is washed and it'sfor their own benefit, because
you can imagine there'sdifferent, you know, feces and
stuff like that that could getin there that you want to wash
(27:14):
that egg to make sure it'ssafe. Once you wash it, as soon
as you get it, it's, you'rebuying it in the refrigerator
and when you bring it backhome, it has to go on the
refrigerator. So just to dispelany miss out there, yes, you do
need to refrigerate your eggshere in Canada.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Now, how do farmers ensure that the eggs that are
produced on their farms, how onyour farm, for example, that
they're safely harvested andstored?
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah, so one of the biggest things when it comes
to, to the eggs is making sureevery day you're running
through the egg belts andyou're putting them in packages
and putting them into the, thecool room. And here's where the
science kind of comes into it,right? So you wanna make sure
that, and predominantly everyfarmer has a, a packer. So the
eggs kind of come in onconveyors, they're put in these
(28:07):
two and a half dozen littlecarton things and you stack 'em
together. And then right awaythey go into a cool room and
the interaction between each ofthose eggs and, you know, my
hand is zero. They, they reallynever, I touch the cartons and,
and we have a full-timeemployee who works with us. We
(28:29):
touch the cartons, but younever actually touch the eggs.
So they pretty much go from thehen on that conveyor into the
cool room. And you know, evenwhen they go to get processed,
they get washed and put in acontainer. My hands never touch
them. So all these things thatwe do to mitigate and, and
remove the possibility of, ofany possible contamination we
(28:53):
do. And , and , uh, that's kindof just part of the process to
make sure we have safe eggsand, and , uh, abide by the,
the rules that are out there.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
But then it's up to us as consumers to make sure
that when we're handling them ,that we are washing our hands
before we handle them and afterwe handle them and practicing
good food safety practices. Andso it's not just the farmer,
it's also the consumer.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Excellent point.
Yes, you're right. Thank youvery much Rosie, for being a
guest on the Ask A Farmerpodcast, and we look forward to
having you again sometime. Iwant to thank you for taking
the time to listen to our Ask aFarmer podcast. We at Canadian
(29:48):
Food Focus value the input fromour listeners and ask that you
share the podcast with yourfriends and family. Remember,
this is a two-Way street, so weseek your input for future
segments that are of interestto you about food and farming.
To do this, please click on theAsk us icon at the top of our
(30:09):
website, canadian foodfocus.org . While you're there,
feel free to follow ournumerous social media links and
sign up for our newsletter .
This segment was produced andedited by Angela Larson,
research and Writing by DorothyLong and Penny Eaton, music by
Andy Elson . I'm your hostClinton Moncho , and from all
(30:31):
of us at Canadian Food Focus,we wish you good health and
great Eats.
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