Egg marketing in national supermarkets: Specialty eggs - Part 2

Large eggs promoted as having one or more features beyond conventional whit e or brown shell eggs (specialty eggs) were evaluated for quality and price in a national retail study. Subtypes of specialty eggs included: nutrition ally altered eggs, organic eggs, fertile eggs, eggs from welfare-managed he ns, or hens fed all-vegetable diets. Extension Poultry Specialists in Calif ornia (CA), Connecticut, Illinois, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas c onducted a survey of egg quality and price and compared 246 dozen specialty eggs with 390 dozen conventional white shell eggs during the summer of 199 6. Age of the eggs based on carton dating indicated specialty eggs were old er (16.5 d) than white eggs (11.7 d). Average egg weights for specialty com pared to white were 60.2 and 59.6 g, respectively. Interior egg quality eva luations including albumen height, Haugh units (HU), and percentage HU <55, indicated white eggs were superior (5.0 mm, 67.5, and 10.6%, respectively) compared to specialty eggs (4.7 mm, 63.8, and 16.3%). Although the percent age of cracked eggs was similar between specialty and white eggs (5.4 and 5 .7%), the percentage of leakers was threefold higher for the specialty eggs (1.0 vs. 0.3%). Egg price was substantially higher for the specialty eggs, averaging $2.18/dozen with a range from 0.88 to $4.38, compared to white e ggs, averaging $1.23/dozen and ranging from 0.39 to $2.35.