SE4: Production of Eggs and Egg Products

Today, like most of my days here at DU, my alarm went off too early, and I struggled to get out of bed, especially with the knowledge that I would soon be sitting in my 8 AM organic chemistry lecture. After my shower, though, I did what I do almost every day- made breakfast. Living in Towers, I have my own kitchen, and I don’t have to journey to the dining hall to get my morning nourishment. Although what I eat with them varies, the staple of my morning meal is consistent, and that’s egg whites. There’s no real reason for choosing these over whole eggs; it’s just what was always around my house growing up, and egg whites do have the clear advantage over eggs health-wise. Usually, I don’t think too much of it- I pour them out of the carton into the frying pan, season them with salt and pepper, and don’t taste any difference from what a real egg would taste like. But in light of this assignment, I was led to think more in depth about my meal. Egg whites clearly don’t come from the chicken that way, and there has to be some process of separation and processing. This led me to the decision to research egg whites, and industrial production of eggs in general, for this paper.

            In 2009, the United States consumed a whopping 76.2 billion eggs. Of these, 30 percent were in the form of ‘egg products’ (USDA). What exactly are egg products? The USDA defines an egg product as anything egg-based that has been subjected to “breaking, filtering, mixing, stabilizing, blending, pasteurizing, cooling, freezing or drying, or packaging.” In addition to products like egg whites, most eggs served anywhere mass production is required- restaurants, nursing homes, hospitals, or our own Centennial Halls- are some kind of egg product rather than whole eggs. Egg whites are one of the least processed kinds of egg products. The shell is broken and removed with machinery, and then the whites and yolks are separated. The whites are then pasteurized for safety and packaged in cartons (Eggland’s Best). Other egg products are much more processed and chemically changed to extend their freshness or cooking properties.

            While the process of making egg whites is fairly mundane, egg production itself deserves a look, too. The poultry industry tends to be one of those things to which we apply the mantra ‘ignorance is bliss.’ We know that conditions for poultry in industrial production environments is less than glamorous, but the life of an egg-laying hen is actually quite miserable. Eggland’s Best, a brand that produces liquid egg whites, states in their FAQ that their egg whites come from eggs laid by caged hens. In most plants, these cages are battery cages, which are so small that the hen cannot spread its wings. The hen lives the majority of its life in this cage, which has an angled floor that rolls the eggs onto a conveyor belt as they are laid (Meunier and Latour). In addition to having to live in a tiny cage, the diet of the hen is altered to support egg production. A high-protein diet is fed to the chicks when they are young, and as they grow older, calcium, phosphorus, methionine, and lysine levels are highly manipulated to support maximum egg production (Meunier and Latour). Photostimulation, or systematic, controlled exposure to light, is also used to force the hens into laying the highest number of eggs. Most producers use this, coupled with other techniques, to force hens to molt when their production starts dropping. Molting causes a spike in egg production, and some producers will force-molt their hens a second time when their production goes down again (Meunier and Latour). When hens can no longer produce a satisfactory number of eggs, they are sent to a ‘spent hen facility’- essentially a fancy term for a slaughterhouse.

            Knowing that my egg whites were somewhat processed doesn’t bother me, but the knowledge of conditions for the hens that produce them raises some ethical issues. It goes back to the issue of animal ethics that we have previously discussed in this class. Is it really right for a hen to live its entire life in a tiny cage, with its only function being to lay eggs, and to be killed when it cannot perform this function anymore? When buying whole eggs, a consumer can look for an indication that the chickens were cage-free, but with egg products like egg whites, it is much harder to find products where it’s guaranteed that the animal was treated humanely. To tell the truth, although my consciousness might be raised on these moral issues, I probably won’t change my eating habits. I guess I’m guilty of selfishly reasoning that the ends justify the means, which I think most of us do. However, if I ever find responsibly raised egg whites in the store, I’d be more than willing to make the switch.

Works Cited

"Egg Products and Food Safety." Egg Products and Food Safety. USDA, n.d. Web. 07 May 2013.

"Eggland's Best Eggs." Liquid Egg Whites. Eggland's Best, n.d. Web. 07 May 2013.

Meunier, Ryan A., and Mickey A. Latour. "Commercial Egg Production and Processing." Commercial Egg Production and Processing. Purdue University, n.d. Web. 07 May 2013.