The end for brown eggs?
The end for brown eggs?
Author
Discussion

lornemalvo

Original Poster:

4,453 posts

94 months

Sainsburys have phased out brown eggs, and my wife has said they're hard to get elsewhere also. They cite white eggs have a lower carbon footprint. but I would bet it's about increasing profit. Not good.

croyde

25,903 posts

256 months

How does a hen determine the colour of the eggs?

Genuine question

spitfire-ian

4,148 posts

254 months

lornemalvo said:
Sainsburys have phased out brown eggs, and my wife has said they're hard to get elsewhere also. They cite white eggs have a lower carbon footprint. but I would bet it's about increasing profit. Not good.
They've phased them out for their own brand ranges.

We've not had any problem buying brown eggs there or elsewhere. Had a box delivered by the milkman this morning.

Smint

3,136 posts

61 months

Just when you think you've heard it all another set of lunatics come up with yet more crap that beggars belief.

The rest of us still vaguely sane will go out of our way to buy free range eggs of any colour other than pure white, don't go near that shop anyway and the more rubbish they come up with ensures avoidance.

super7

2,221 posts

234 months

White eggs are better than brown eggs...... Here we go!!!

Apparently according to AI it's down to pigmentation added to shell just before boshing it out and based on the genetics of the bird.... Can be Blue, Green, Brown or White

Where's the Chicken Equalities Board when you need it!!

LRDefender

627 posts

34 months

Smint said:
Just when you think you've heard it all another set of lunatics come up with yet more crap that beggars belief.

The rest of us still vaguely sane will go out of our way to buy free range eggs of any colour other than pure white, don't go near that shop anyway and the more rubbish they come up with ensures avoidance.
Agreed.

Deportation is the only solution.

Sway

34,282 posts

220 months

croyde said:
How does a hen determine the colour of the eggs?

Genuine question
Breed aiui.

The 'white egg layers' produce more, as they're not putting any energy into colouration of the shell. Marginal I'd guess, but these are industrial processes.

So, I'm going with the carbon argument being a nice bit of fluff for reducing cost - and I'd imagine that cheaper cost is why apparently restaurants have used white eggs for yonks.

Flyingakite

132 posts

1 month

I thought it was what they ate. Was wrong .

It is sad they were are making everything just to maximise profit. Different coloured eggs is tradional.

InitialDave

14,691 posts

145 months

I reckon the carbon guff is largely bullst, and it's to soften people up for imports sourced from cheaper locations even if they look noticeably "odd" to our eyes.

Think I recall that there's some animal welfare legislation in the offing, which would only apply to UK produced eggs and so exacerbate any price difference.


Evanivitch

26,098 posts

148 months

lornemalvo said:
Sainsburys have phased out brown eggs, and my wife has said they're hard to get elsewhere also. They cite white eggs have a lower carbon footprint. but I would bet it's about increasing profit. Not good.
Sainsbury's have only phased out brown eggs on their cheapest range.

lornemalvo

Original Poster:

4,453 posts

94 months

croyde said:
How does a hen determine the colour of the eggs?

Genuine question
Different breeds apparently. White feathered, smaller hens produce white eggs. ( I never knew either, had to look it up)

Bluevanman

9,686 posts

219 months

White shells appear to be thinner and easier to crack from my experience.... I really don't care what colour they are though

lornemalvo

Original Poster:

4,453 posts

94 months

spitfire-ian said:
lornemalvo said:
Sainsburys have phased out brown eggs, and my wife has said they're hard to get elsewhere also. They cite white eggs have a lower carbon footprint. but I would bet it's about increasing profit. Not good.
They've phased them out for their own brand ranges.

We've not had any problem buying brown eggs there or elsewhere. Had a box delivered by the milkman this morning.
y wife struggled elsewhere. The problem is, the lunacy may spread

Evanivitch

26,098 posts

148 months

Sway said:
Breed aiui.

The 'white egg layers' produce more, as they're not putting any energy into colouration of the shell. Marginal I'd guess, but these are industrial processes.

So, I'm going with the carbon argument being a nice bit of fluff for reducing cost - and I'd imagine that cheaper cost is why apparently restaurants have used white eggs for yonks.
No, if you read the research it's simply the the white-layers are smaller breeds. They don't have as long a productive life, but purely in inputs versus outputs the white-layers are more efficient (cost and energy) through-life.

Sainsbury's are claiming it's a carbon-impact reason but it's very much a commercial one. Industrial chicken farming is incredibly intensive on food, water and heating.

LRDefender

627 posts

34 months

Flyingakite said:
I thought it was what they ate. Was wrong .

It is sad they were are making everything just to maximise profit. Different coloured eggs is tradional.
Surely it is the consumer that dictates?

I've never thought about going into a supermarket and specifically requesting multi coloured eggs. When I'm eating in a restaurant the consideration of what colour the shell of the eggs was isn't something I would to begin to think about.

Most folks would base their egg purchase on price. Supermarkets are very good at understanding their customers and most customers are somewhat price sensitive. I don't believe it is a nationwide ban on rainbow eggs and you can vote with your wallet by sourcing eggs with the colour of your choice by shopping elsewhere.

To be honest I can't see why anyone would be fussed over such a move, there's much more important things in life....

butchstewie

65,253 posts

236 months

LRDefender said:
Surely it is the consumer that dictates?

I've never thought about going into a supermarket and specifically requesting multi coloured eggs. When I'm eating in a restaurant the consideration of what colour the shell of the eggs was isn't something I would to begin to think about.

Most folks would base their egg purchase on price. Supermarkets are very good at understanding their customers and most customers are somewhat price sensitive. I don't believe it is a nationwide ban on rainbow eggs and you can vote with your wallet by sourcing eggs with the colour of your choice by shopping elsewhere.

To be honest I can't see why anyone would be fussed over such a move, there's much more important things in life....
This ^^

There will still be plenty of choice at various price points.

LimmerickLad

6,679 posts

41 months

I've got a variety of different bantams all emanating from our 1st flock of 6 some 7 - 8 generations ago.....some lay white, some cream, some almost brown yet all eat exactly the same food!

Sway

34,282 posts

220 months

Evanivitch said:
Sway said:
Breed aiui.

The 'white egg layers' produce more, as they're not putting any energy into colouration of the shell. Marginal I'd guess, but these are industrial processes.

So, I'm going with the carbon argument being a nice bit of fluff for reducing cost - and I'd imagine that cheaper cost is why apparently restaurants have used white eggs for yonks.
No, if you read the research it's simply the the white-layers are smaller breeds. They don't have as long a productive life, but purely in inputs versus outputs the white-layers are more efficient (cost and energy) through-life.

Sainsbury's are claiming it's a carbon-impact reason but it's very much a commercial one. Industrial chicken farming is incredibly intensive on food, water and heating.
Cheers!

GT03ROB

14,012 posts

247 months

We have 3 hens.

One lays brown eggs, the other 2 lay a shade of blue/green but one lays a lighter shade than the others.

It's breed & hen dependent. I think this is just nonsense

wildoliver

9,259 posts

242 months

The real takeaway here isn't that brown eggs being phased out is bad for some reason. It's that industrial egg production as a whole should be phased out. There's zero justification for it. We do not need food to be as cheap as it is. The major user of cheap eggs is industrial processed food. What a shame it would be if that became more expensive and encouraged people to eat better quality food. The old food poverty line is bullst. Walk round any supermarket and you will see people who you can clearly see are not hugely affluent filling their trolleys with absolute junk food, they get to the tills and the bill is well north of £100. That isn't food poverty, that is making a decision to eat luxury convenience foods. Convenience food is both cheap and expensive, granted I can't make a sweet and sour chicken portion for 99p. Let alone one that someone with zero cooking skills can put in chef Mikey for 3 mins and have a meal from.

But I can feed a family decent nutritious food for less than £100+ a week. Yes it takes a bit of prep, yes you need some basic cooking skills and yes it will take someone brought up solely on junk food a while to acclimatise to the flavours.

But the end result would be people eating healthier, less packaging waste, less industrial emissions producing this junk, and frankly while I'm not a veggie or vegan I don't enjoy seeing animals suffering just because I enjoy eating them and their products, commercial egg production with the exception of true free range outdoor chickens which do exist, is pretty damn unpleasant tbh. Eggs should be more of a luxury item than they are, supermarket eggs should be more expensive than roadside sellers due the extra layers of business involved.

For once let's look at the real issues rather than get outraged at the colour changing. At this stage it smacks of emperor Romulus debating what colour he wants his downstairs loo decorating.