Nutritionally, fertilized and non-fertilized eggs are basically the same. Taste-wise, barely noticeable. Fertilized eggs might mean sexually-satisfied roosters, but doubtful that’s a top concern.
Natural
Everything is natural because everything—even diesel fuel and Velveeta—comes from nature. The USDA clarifies that egg products are natural when they contain no artificial ingredients, added color, and are only minimally processed. Anything other than an Easter egg would probably qualify as natural.
Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images
Egg Grades: A, AA, or B
The USDA grades eggs AA, A, or B, with AA being the best, most uniform egg and B the most unsightly or somehow defective.
Critics argue that the grades are cosmetic because they don’t promise protection from salmonella, the most dangerous and common pathogen carried by eggs. Consumers confuse egg grades—only an assurance that the eggs aren’t cracked or misshapen—for a safety standards. At best, egg grading tries to make sure the white eggs aren’t mixed with the brown. At worst, the seals allow companies to pump up prices.
Well, maybe the critics should take a look at the USDA grading sheet. There might be a reason we never see the eggs that don’t make it into the supermarket.
USDA describes sour eggs like a bad movie monster, the eggs cast a “weak white and murky shadow around an off-center swollen yolk.” Under UV light, the sour eggs fluoresce and give off a green sheen. Other defects include blood spots, meat spots, bloody whites, mixed rot, blood rings, stuck yolks, embryo chicks, and problems with bubbly, ruptured air cells.
There are also green whites and something called black rots—and I’m relieved that the USDA is keeping me from ever knowing what that looks like.
Organic
The USDA regulates “organic” and organic eggs must come from free-range chickens fed with 100% organic feed, meaning no administered antibiotics, no hormones, no arsenic, no poultry-slaughter byproducts. It’s a reliable standard, and usually a good indication that free-range requirements are enforced.
So what can we trust? First, find an egg company certified by outside boards: Vital Farms, Family Homestead, and Oliver's Organic all have good reputations according to the Cornucopia Institute and Shop Ethical!, two respected consumer guides. Walmart, Target, and other big box stores carry Happy Egg Co. and Pete and Gerry’s, the largest of the free-range egg producers that has generally good ratings.
Outside watchdog groups often rank egg companies based on their own criteria of sustainability, nutrition, and humane treatment. Some, like the Cornucopia Institute, investigate unethical practices themselves while others like the Shop Ethical! consumer guide will include egg producers among other consumer products.
So forget hormone-free, antibiotic-free, natural, fertile, or any other nonsense. Ideally the best egg is organic, pastured (or free-range), USDA A or AA, stamped with the Certified Humane or Animal Welfare Approved seal. If you have to pay a dollar or two more than usual, you’ll know you spent money on the things that matter.
Now that you've got the good stuff, make a frittata:
You can put whatever you want in it, and you don’t even need to turn on your oven.
