🎉 Our bone broth tested negative for toxic heavy metals! READ MORE & SEE THE RESULTS.

Finally, egg test results are in! Guess what? Yolk color does not matter.

written by

Marie Reedell

posted on

December 20, 2024

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Exciting news --- we've been waiting for months and just got our egg test results in!!! 

Keep reading for the reasoning behind the tests and a little analysis of what the results mean. Want to skip straight to the hard data from the lab? Click here

A Quick Recap Explaining Why We Tested Eggs.

Earlier this year, we lost trust in the feed supplier for our laying hens. Even though they said the feed was corn & soy free, something wasn't adding up (you can read more details about the drama here). So, we switched.

At that time, we made the choice to NOT include any colorants in the feed, even natural ones like marigold and paprika (you can read about every single ingredient in our new feed here). Despite having the same new feed and the same pastured living conditions, some flocks produced orange yolks and some produced yellow yolks.

This led to a lot of customer confusion. I mean, aren't pastured egg yolks supposed to be orange? Isn't that how you know an egg has max nutrition? That's what I thought, too. 

I knew we needed to verify some things. So, we bit the bullet and paid for lab testing. 

We sent 5 different egg samples to Dr. Stephan Van Vliet, PhD. He's the Director of Food Metabolomics Lab at the University of Utah. And, he's the same guy who tested our chicken (without us knowing) and found that our chicken had the perfect 1:1 omega 6/3 ratio, which is basically unheard of even with pastured corn & soy free chicken.

The 5 Egg Samples We Tested.

Here's what we sent to Dr. Van Vliet. All eggs were from late spring, when pastures are growing. We are choosing to keep the other egg brands’ names private. Here’s some info about each sample provided.

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1- Miller’s Bio Farm (Yellow Yolks)
  • Pasture raised in mobile coops moved regularly to fresh pasture
  • Raised on regeneratively tended pastures
  • Corn & soy free

.

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2- Miller’s Bio Farm (Orange Yolks)
  • Pasture raised in mobile coops moved regularly to fresh pasture
  • Raised on regeneratively tended pastures
  • Corn & soy free

.

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3- National Brand Regenerative Eggs

(the most expensive you can buy in the supermarket)

Brand Claims:

  • Pasture raised; freedom to forage outdoors year round; 108 ft2 per hen
  • Regenerative
  • Certified Organic
  • Certified Humane

.

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4- Local Pasture Raised Competitor

(using our OLD corn & soy free feed supplier)

Brand Claims:

  • Pasture raised
  • Free range
  • Regenerative
  • Corn & soy free 

.

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5- National Brand Conventional Eggs

(the cheapest you can buy in the supermarket)

Brand Claims:

  • Excellent source of vitamins D, E, B2, B12, and B5
  • 140mg omega-3
  • 25% less saturated fat
  • Vegetarian fed

.

The 4 Most Important Results.

There were 100+ tests done on the egg samples. That's a lot of data! I wanted to make it a little easier for you to digest. 

So, after reviewing everything and having a conversation with Dr. Van Vliet, these are what I think are the 4 most important findings.

1- Yolk Color Does NOT Matter. The Feed And Farming Practices Are Most Important.

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That's right. As I scrolled through the 100+ tests done on the eggs, the orange and yellow yolks consistently had very similar results.

With the exception of a couple vitamins (which technically make the yellow yolk eggs slightly more nutritious than the orange yolk eggs), the nutritional content of our orange and yellow yolk eggs was exactly the same. Wow.

Most notably, the yellow yolk eggs had significantly higher Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) compared to the orange yolk eggs. Vitamin B2 is a yellow colored compound, and Dr. Van Vliet thinks this extra pigment might be why those yolks are yellow.

From this point forward, we're calling our eggs "honest yolk" eggs. After all, nearly every egg farmer nowadays adds color to the feed. And it's kinda a sad thing, since the farmer then loses an important indicator for what the hens are foraging for.

For example, the farmer that had the flock producing yellow yolks noticed that the chickens weren't as interested in the pasture. Maybe it was the plants that were growing. Maybe it was the soil. Maybe it was the nature of those birds. He doesn't know for sure. But, with one change at a time, he can slowly figure out how to get the hens to eat more greens. Without the "honest yolk" that wouldn't really be possible.

2- Our Eggs Had The Best Omega 6/3 Ratio At 4:1.

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Our eggs had the best omega 6/3 ratio at 4:1 (and we're already chatting about how to get it even lower!). And, the eggs fed from our old feed supplier had the worst ratio at 12:1.

Me oh my we made the right choice to switch feed suppliers!!! There must be something in the old feed (maybe soy or corn oil like we thought there might be) that's bringing that ratio waaaay up.

I mean, isn't corn & soy free feed supposed to lower that ratio? Corn has a 25:1-60:1 ratio. Soy has a 8:1-9:1 ratio. At the very least, it should be lower than the national conventional brand, whose hens are definitely eating corn and soy.

For a little reference, humans should eat a 1:1-4:1 omega 6/3 ratio for optimal health. But the conventional Western diet typically provides a 20:1 ratio. Having too many omega 6s compared to 3s can lead to a host of issues including inflammation, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, asthma, depression, fatigue... the list goes on and on. I mean, this is just one reason Americans are overall in poor health.

3- Our Eggs Had The Lowest PUFA Content.

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When PUFAs are consumed in excess (like the conventional Western diet gives you), it can have some awful health impacts. It can suppress thyroid function, lead to inflammation, cause oxidative stress, and result in a variety of diseases. You can learn a lot more in the PUFA predicament blog post.

This is why a lot of our customers are looking to reduce their PUFA intake. And it's a reason many come to us. Since seed oils are a big contributor to high PUFAs, animal-based eating is a good way to lower PUFAs. And especially when animals are 100% grass-fed and not fed corn and soy like our animals, you can get those numbers even lower.

I was excited to see the test results verify the impacts of our farming practices and feed choices. We have the lowest PUFA eggs amongst the ones we tested.

4- Our Eggs Had The Highest Vitamin Content.

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When you look at the individual results for each vitamin, the results were kinda all over the place. But, when you add up all the numbers, Miller's Bio Farm's eggs came out on top!

This is especially exceptional because the conventional eggs boasted having high amounts of certain vitamins... and they sure did hold true to those promises. This means they are heavily supplementing their birds. It's incredible that we beat them without oversupplementation!

All Of The Data Is Available To You.

We are giving you access to EVERYTHING. There are 100+ test results. After all, you deserve to know everything about what you put into your body. The data is available in two formats:

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A spreadsheet with all of the raw data. It's divided by tabs for fatty acids, minerals, antioxidants, and vitamins (view spreadheet data here).

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A 30-page pdf that summarizes notable data (not all of it). It has lots of nice charts for easy comparisons (view pdf data here).

What do you think about the results? What's the #1 data point you look for when it comes to eggs?

I'd love to hear from you. Comment below - no account required, start typing for the guest option to appear 😊

More from the blog

Our bone broth tested negative for heavy metals 🥳 NATURAL AND CLEAN

Over the past few months a bunch of people asked us if we tested our bone broth for toxic heavy metals. When we get the same question a lot, we of course look into it. My first question was --- Is there an issue with toxic metals in bone broth? As it turns out, yes, there "can" be an issue! Heavy metals are naturally present in our environment. We need the "good" heavy metals to thrive: iron, zinc, magnesium, copper, etc. But, we can 100% do without the toxic heavy metals: arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, etc. Too many toxic heavy metals can lead to a host of pretty awful issues: nervous system damage, cardiovascular issues, cancer, endocrine disruption, kidney damage, and so on. Our body is designed to excrete heavy metals through urine (and a little bit through sweat, hair, and breastmilk too)... but only so much. There's a limit. If you're overloaded, your body will store those heavy metals in your bones, blood, tissues, and organs. Similarly, if an animal is exposed to heavy metals via food, water, air, dust, or soil, those heavy metals accumulate in the bones. Maybe the farm's soil or air is contaminated from a nearby factory. Maybe the pipes for the water has lead solder connecting them. Maybe the feed a farm is buying was grown on contaminated soil or processed on contaminated equipment.  And, of course, a main purpose of bone broth is drawing out as much as possible from the bones. If there are heavy metals in bones, they will make their way into the broth. This is especially true when you pre-soak with apple cider vinegar and simmer for 48 hours to make it thick and gelatinous (like our broth). And that led me to my second question --- Should I be concerned about every bone broth? Where is the fear coming from? Well... it seems it might be a little political. There was a study done in the UK in 2013 that scared a lot of people. It's titled "The Risk of Lead Contamination in Bone Broth Diets". This study found high levels of lead in organic chicken bone broth, which is quite concerning. And, in fact, this one study is still cited in articles written today! Let's dig a little deeper. Let's go farther than the short abstract. Here are the broths tested in the study and their test results for lead:  (9.5 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus skin and cartilage(7.01 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus bones(2.3 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus meat(0.89 parts per billion): Tap water alone cooked for the same amount of time as a control. But, they only used organic chicken from one farm. And, there's zero information about that farm, their practices, the feed, and the broth recipe. Did they use vinegar or wine in the broth? Was the chicken's water contaminated with lead? What was the quality of the feed and the soil? Were the chickens raised indoors or outdoors? So many unanswered questions! All we get is that it was one "organic chicken" that created a lead issue with broth. Another curious thing is that the broth with skin and cartilage contained more lead than the broth made with just bones. Bones are where lead is stored, so why wouldn't the broth made with bones only contain more lead? It's an odd result. Moreover, the abstract of the study specifically called out "bone broth diets" like GAPS and paleo. They even go so far as to write, "In view of the dangers of lead consumption to the human body, we recommend that doctors and nutritionists take the risk of lead contamination into consideration when advising patients about bone broth diets." That's quite curious. Why are they worried about these diets? Are the researchers anti healing through food? Who funded the research? Is it political? My opinion? This study is not comprehensive. It does not speak to all bone broths. But it does cover a potential issue if the water or animals are overloaded with heavy metals. What I glean from this study is that we need more research. We don't need fear to spread and people to stop drinking broth from this one study. Regardless of whether the fear was fabricated or legit, we tested our bone broth anyway. After all, it's always nice to validate that your food choices are as clean as you think. For Miller's, here were my concerns before testing: What if there's mercury in the fishmeal in our chicken feed?What if the soil that our animals live on is contaminated?What is the well water that the broth is made with is contaminated?What if the Celtic sea salt has lots of heavy metals? As it turns out, my fears were thankfully unfounded. Our bone broth tested NEGATIVE for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury 🥳 🥳 🥳 You can find the test results right here! You'll notice that, for every sample, the results are "<0.01 mg/kg" and "<0.02 mg/kg".  I asked the lab what the "<" means. They said that it indicates their limit of quantitation (LOQ), the lowest concentration that can be accurately tested using the test procedure in that sample type. So the results simply report that none of the metals tested were found in the sample above the specific reporting LOQs. Whether or not they were present below this LOQ is information that is not provided by the test. It's also important to note that a "mg/kg" is the same as a part per billion (ppb). It means that our broths contain less than 0.02 ppb of arsenic and lead and less than 0.01 ppb of cadmium and mercury. I don't think a lower LOQ is needed. I mean, I think we can say it's basically zero. What about you? For some reference, the EPA says that less than 15 ppb of lead is safe in drinking water. Not saying that I agree, but it's a good reference point.  FYI ---> We also tested our ground beef, and it was negative. Why test ground beef? Because if there was an issue with the broth, I wanted to identify right away if meat was an issue too. We of course do not want to give out food contaminated with toxic heavy metals! We'd take immediate action is that were the case. You know what this also means? Someone asked recently about the fishmeal in our chicken feed. Given that fish nowadays can have high mercury content, they were worried about mercury in our eggs and chicken. Since our fishmeal is made from sardines, a small fish that doesn't have time to accumulate mercury, I wasn't overly concerned.  But now with these results, I'm definitely not concerned about mercury in our chicken products! If it's not in the bones and the broth, then it's pretty safe to say that it's not in the eggs or the meat. Do you worry about toxic metals (or other junk) in your food? Where have your fears stemmed from? I'd love to hear from you. You can comment below (no account required) or contact us ðŸ˜Š ----- Sources The risk of lead contamination in bone broth dietsBone Broth and Lead Toxicity: Should You Be Concerned?Bone Broth and Lead Contamination: A Very Flawed Study in Medical HypothesesBone Broth, Collagen, and Toxic Metals: A Research Review

If animals eat wheat, does the gluten transfer to the eggs and meat?

We've been getting this question a good amount lately --- If your chickens and pigs eat wheat, which contains gluten, then do your eggs, chicken, and pork contain gluten, too? Super interesting question. I mean, the saying "you are what you eat" holds true to some extent. But... digestion is the opposite of simple. The short answer is --- Gluten in animal feed does NOT transfer to eggs or meat. Eggs are meat are naturally gluten-free. You see, just like you, when an animal eats gluten, the gluten is broken down into amino acids during digestion. Then, those amino acids are reassembled into a variety of things that support life and growth - proteins, hormones, neurotransmitters, etc. We have anecdotal evidence, too. There are many Miller's customers with Celiac disease or gluten sensitivities that handle our eggs, chicken, and pork without any issues. In fact, some say that our eggs and meat are the only they can tolerate - wow! A little caveat --- cross contamination. Here are two scenarios: What if a butcher uses products on meat or surfaces that contain gluten? I mean the list of approved sanitizers is loooong. This isn't a worry with our foods. Our eggs and chicken only ever touch water. And our pork is washed in organic apple cider vinegar.Can gluten be added to foods like sausages or pies or lunchmeat? Yes. Some baking sodas and spice blends contain gluten. And some trace ingredients (that don't need to be on the label) like maltodextrin or modified food starch may contain gluten. This isn't a worry with our foods. We try to keep things as pure as possible. Intolerances and sensitivities can be complicated. Some people react to parts of gluten, not the whole molecule. During digestion, gluten is broken down into peptides in your intestinal tract. Then, those peptides are broken down into amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of life. They're reassembled (with other things like broken down vitamins and minerals) into important stuff that your body needs - proteins, tissue, enzymes, hormones. People with confusing (and sometimes inconsistent) reactions might be having a reaction to a specific peptide or part of a molecule. It might now be the whole molecule that's giving you trouble! That's why many people with gluten sensitivity do fine with sourdough and/or einkorn (in fact, we even have a customer with Celiac disease that loves our sourdough einkorn crackers). Sourdough partially digests the gluten for you and possibly changes the way your body breaks it down. And einkorn is a heritage grain that contains a completely different kind of gluten compared to conventional wheat - gluten AA. There's actually a certain test you can take to give you more info. It's called a Zoomer test. Instead of simply seeing if you're reacting to a whole protein, it sees how your body responds to individual peptides. Neat! Or maybe people aren't reacting to wheat itself. Rather, they're reacting to chemicals sprayed on wheat. Many people with gluten sensitivity go to Europe and eat all the bread. Why is this? Well, maybe it's because glyphosate is banned in Europe. But here in the US, we're still spraying it on conventional wheat to dry it out quickly and get it ready for harvest. It could be that some people are reacting to a chemical on wheat... not the wheat itself. I mean, glyphosate is known for disrupting the gut! This could explain why some people don't do well with some eggs and meat but do just fine with ours. After all, we have the highest natural standards and aim to give you the purest food possible, down to the nitty gritty. What have you experienced? Are you sensitive or allergic to gluten but can handle eggs and meat? How do our eggs and meat feel for you? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below (no account required - just start typing) or contact us ðŸ˜Š ----- Sources Are Eggs From Grain-Fed Chickens Safe to Eat on a Gluten-Free Diet?Zoomers Food Sensitivity Testing 101: Your Path to Food Sensitivity AwarenessIs RoundUp Giving You a Pain in the Gut?