Current Market Price of Free-Range Eggs and How They Differ from Feed Eggs and Their Nutritional Value

Eggs are a nourishing food we eat regularly, but many people believe free-range eggs have higher nutritional value than ordinary eggs, and when buying them, they look for a familiar seller. So how much does a jin of free-range eggs cost now? How are they different from feed eggs? Is the nutritional value the same?

So-called free-range eggs are eggs laid by chickens raised freely in a natural environment, while the corresponding feed eggs, that is, eggs laid by chickens in artificial farming plants, are also called foreign eggs.

Latest market prices:

Egg prices differ from place to place; ordinary eggs are generally around 4.5 yuan. At the same time, prices also vary according to the breed of egg: eggs from chickens fed on feed (larger in size, with little nutrition) are about 4 to 5 yuan per jin, eggs from chickens fed on coarse grains are about 6 to 7 yuan per jin, eggs from home-raised chickens fed on greens and rice (smaller in size, with high nutritional value) are about 8 to 9 yuan per jin, and green-shelled eggs are about 10 to 15 yuan per jin.

Differences from feed eggs:

Truly free-range eggs generally come from chickens raised completely freely; these free-range chickens forage for themselves in the woods every day, eating natural insects, green grass, green leafy vegetables and other foods, so the yolks of the eggs they lay contain more vitamin B2, carotenoids and so on, which makes the yolk look darker in color and a bit fuller. However, because free-range chickens forage for themselves in the woods, their nutrition is not balanced enough, and generally speaking their eggs are also smaller.

1. The nutritional value of ordinary free-range eggs is no different from that of feed eggs. The logic is simple: people from the age of eating raw meat and drinking blood and people today eating grand meals are all human, and the nutrients contained in their bodies will not differ significantly. Of course, for some special free-range eggs, such as green-shelled eggs laid by silkie chickens, the content of some nutrients differs considerably from that of feed eggs.

2. If nutrients are added extra to feed eggs, then their nutritional value will be higher than that of ordinary free-range eggs. Many branded eggs now cost a lot, largely because specific nutrients are added to the feed, greatly increasing the content of certain nutrients in the eggs. Examples include high-calcium eggs, high-zinc eggs, high-iron eggs, high-iodine eggs, high-selenium eggs, low-cholesterol eggs, high n-3 fatty acid eggs, high conjugated linoleic acid eggs and so on.

3. The biggest difference between free-range eggs and feed eggs is actually in the taste, but this difference is not like heaven and earth; if tasted blind, few people could tell them apart by taste.

At present, the chickens raised on chicken farms are also given special attention in terms of nutritional matching when fed; these feeds are scientifically proportioned, comprehensive and balanced in nutrition, and especially in elements such as calcium, iron and magnesium, they may even be higher than the content in free-range eggs. At the same time, free-range eggs have a high fat content and are not suitable for elderly people to eat over the long term, while foreign eggs, because a certain amount of dietary fiber is added during feeding, have fat and cholesterol contents considerably lower than those of free-range eggs.

Overall, the nutrition of the two kinds of eggs each has its own merits; free-range eggs taste a bit better because they come from nature. But nutritionally speaking, the two are actually quite similar, and foreign eggs are a bit more balanced. At the same time, one more thing to note: because free-range eggs have a long production cycle, some free-range eggs on the market are actually artificially raised, and this cannot be told from the appearance alone.