egg quality

[annie3001]

hello,
not sure if this is the right catergory, plz move if not.
i was wondering does anybody test their eggs? for quality? how would you? does the fda have to be notifyed before selling them?
if the eggs are comming from my own chickens, i feel i know what they eat etc.
this is a question put forward to me from a family member wondering if my eggs are safe for me and my family.
thanks in advance!

 

[faykokoWV]

Can you be more specific as to what you mean by "quality"

I like the quality of the color of my shells. I what I would consider to be different quality of the yolk in both color and texture. There's also the quality of the shells thickness. Are you asking about disease on the eggs such as Salmonella?

 

[Tala]

I dunno. When you grow tomatoes at home do you send them off for testing? Ya know there was a salmonella outbreak due to tomatoes from commercial facilities not too long ago.
If/when you buy some peas from the local farmer's market do you think that they've been FDA tested/approved?
Have you ever eaten wild raspberries or blueberries, or muscadines - who tests them??
Why worry about the eggs if you don't worry about that other stuff??

I think it's safe to assume that the person questioning the "safety" of your eggs has never seen how commercial chicken operations are run. If they truely compared what they buy at the grocery store to what you have in your back yard - they wouldn't be asking questions about "quality" and "safe to eat"

If you're happy knowing that your birds are happy, healthy and being fed good food, then why worry about what everyone else thinks?? If they don't think your eggs are good enough THEN JUST KEEP YOUR EGGS FOR YOURSELF!

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
I agree! Home grown eggs are usually of a better quality than is offered commercially. When you collect eggs (at least twice a day) clean them with a dry brush or fine grain sand paper (not water, it washes off the protective film that keeps bacteria out of the egg and water can carry bacteria through the porous egg shell) and refrigerate. What this person is probably referring to is salmonella which is very rare in eggs. This web-site will clear up a lot of misconceptions. http://www.aeb.org/LearnMore/EggSafety.htm#howsafe .
In many parts of Europe they don't even stress about putting eggs in the refrigerator, they store them out on the counter. It is very unlikely that you or your family would get sick from home grown eggs. But I don't share my eggs with anyone who doesn't appreciate the high quality of my chicken's eggs.

 

[AngieChick]

If you were curious, you might see if your local extension service can test them?

I don't worry about it, but I can see how there could be some situations where one would.

 

[greathorse]

Quote:
That question is posed often by folks that really dont understand that food really begins at farms and in the ground or on the ground and folks often believe there is some big mechanism in place to keep them safe from harm by food. There is an inherent risk (very small) in all eggs farm raised and commercially of salmonella. Very few eggs commercially are tested and I would assume even fewer farm or backyard raised are tested.

It will just take a time or two of eating eggs grown in a backyard to understand the quality.

 

[annie3001]

thank you thank you thank you for all your responses! the person who posed this question, questions everything, he doesnt understand why i have chickens,, they are my pets first then they give us yummy eggs..(hes a stepdad bytheway) anyhow,,, i did a search earlier,, and found exactly what most of you said, "i dont question veggies i grow" i think he wanted to know about the safeness.. diseases etc.
i am gonna let'em know my findings! thanks again!!!

i am in love with byc because i always get answers!!!!!

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
Aren't you sweet?! You are very welcome!