Pasture-Raised Eggs (with David Boatright)

The majority of the hens in the United States lead monotonous and disgusting lives. From getting their beaks chopped off to prevent nervously pecking their friends, to living in a cage the size of an iPad for their entire lives, millions upon millions of eggs get produced in closely guarded facilities with are often cesspools of death and disease. The eggs are often washed in multiple chlorine baths, which end up leaching through the outer membrane into the egg itself. Yet, as Austin Williams will point out, the valid response is to search for eggs from hens who live lives on pasture.

The egg industry has done a phenomenal job popularizing the narrative, "An egg is an egg is an egg." There is such widespread confusion about the differences between "all natural", "organic", "cage free", "free-range", and "pasture-raised" that people just assume they are different ways of saying the same thing. They are not.

By the end of the episode, you'll learn three questions you can ask any egg producer to guarantee you're getting eggs from hens who live their lives on pasture, rather than dirty confinement barns. (And you'll get to hear the tales of Cindy and Henrietta!)