Sunny Meadow is a WM brand and can be packed by several producers. I am not an Eggland's best licensee, and so I might sound like I'm knocking the competition, but I don't think it is a good value proposition. Lot's of great marketing though. The Goldrich product is really still in a test phase and isn't available nationwide yet.
So... Considering shipping costs, potential shipping damage and shelf life... Does the egg industry try and sell to the entire country, or just focus on regional markets ???
We ship eggs from Ohio to California. Regulations call for eggs to be packaged and in a 45* cooler no later than 36 hours from the time they are laid(don't ask). Most of our customers require the eggs to be on their shelves within 4 - 7 days of packaging so they have a minimum of 21 days until their sell-by date expiry. USDA will do spot checks of the eggs at destination stores and the eggs must have less than 7% cracks. In this case a crack is defined as a cracked egg but the contents must not be leaking. Generally we figure we pick up 1% - 2% cracks in transportation and handling to go from Ohio - California. Our main shell egg production facilities are in Iowa and Ohio and we service customers in New York, South Carolina, Texas, and California in addition to exporting to Canada, Mexico, and Asia. That is a long winded way of saying that it is cheaper to ship eggs than it is to ship grain. Your logistics department just has to be damn good at what they do!
Why? Eggs aren't particularly perishable, far less so than meat and it gets shipped all over the world on container ships.
Eggs go on boats in refrigerated inter-modal just fine. You have to remember that eggs are designed by mother nature to be bacteriologically resistant for a month at 100* or none of the baby chicks would survive. As they get older there are some that succumb to spoilage especially if they are washed, but it is common in Europe to keep eggs for industry in cold storage for six months.
Heck, it's common to come across eggs in the bilges of cruising sailboats that have been there a year smeared in Vaseline, with most still good.
Eggland comes cheaper here than other non-antibiotic eggs in many of the stores here. Teeter and Giant has their own brand which is cheaper, but if I'm at Wegmans, EB is the cheapest (as their house organics are MUCH more expensive).
I see a lot of organic produce and eggs in the store, but I am having trouble finding inorganic eggs. Any suggestions?
Isn't a pre-hard boiled egg just an egg? Kind of like a pre-fab home is is just a pile of lumber. Sorry gang but I can't resist,just some silly" yokes" But seriously one of the big egg farms up here in Mich.( it was a Chicken Farm first as the Chicken came before the egg) have Semi Trucks ( no, full fledged trucks) that say " Hit me easy or the yolk will be on you" Ok ,sorry it's a weird fri around here
Yes and no. Yes it is an egg, but an egg is not an egg is not an egg, there are considerable variations, and I'm sure they use several varieties overall. Since I couldn't comment on all of them since I don't typically buy Eggland eggs, I could only comment on the variety they choose to use to hard boil and sell in that package.
The organic ones were burning to get out. They were just fuming being in the sewers, and when the got out they were on fire mad. Once out though, the whole issue burned out quickly.
The Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply report came out this week. Summary results attached and the exec summary starts on page 27. I know TLDR, but if you are interested in the subject the study most likely has significant implications for future egg production practices.
Thanks, so, when cost is taken out of the equation, EC seems to be the all around 'best effect'. What are the terms and conditions of EC? What are the extra cost drivers?
1. More space per bird. In this study about 45% more space per bird. 2. Fewer partitions dividing the birds meaning group size increases. 3. Birds have a nest area in the colony area to allow them to express their natural desire to have "privacy" when they are laying eggs. 4. There are perches built into the cage system. 5. The system has toenail scratch pads built in 6. There is a forage area that is not much more than a plastic mat that has a small amount of feed dribbled onto it to let them do dust bathing. http://www.virtualfarmtours.ca/en/eggFarms/enriched/index.html
Depreciation. More capital expense spread over fewer dozens with the same equipment useful life. Labor. Same labor to care for fewer birds Return on invested capital. I spend x to get return y. Now I get fewer dozens on the same x and my profit per dozen must increase to get the same y.
