Eggs are both simple and complex. They’re one of the easiest foods you can learn how to cook, but can be prepared in a seemingly endless amount of interesting and complex ways. From a chemical perspective, they are absolutely bonkers, packed with all sorts of proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and (some) minerals. And, with two distinct portions, they’re practically a two-for-one food.

Eggs come from chickens, the diet and treatment of which can also affect the taste and nutritional content of the egg. All the language you see printed on a carton of eggs is supposedly there to help you make your egg-related purchasing decisions, but some of those words are more helpful than others.

These are the words you should ignore, as they are mere marketing terms with no real value.

These are words and phrases that may be technically correct, but shouldn’t necessarily influence you when buying eggs.

According to organicconsumers.org the USDA’s “National Organic Program,” requires that organic eggs “come from chickens that are raised cage-free, fed an organic diet grown without pesticides, managed without antibiotics and hormones, and have seasonal access to the outdoors.” But things can get tricky when it comes to outdoor access.

As you can see from the above 2018 PBS segment, the farms that “organic” eggs come from can look wildly different. Some hens do indeed get to live a life that looks like something out of a child’s storybook, foraging around in the soil and sun, while others spend most of their lives in barns, taking their “outdoor” time on porches.

That could change, however, as the Biden administration is reconsidering the previous administration’s interpretation that the USDA doesn’t have the authority to mandate animal welfare conditions. This would “disallow the use of porches as outdoor space in organic production over time.”

It is worth noting, however, that some experts, like the Doctor of Veterinarian Medicine interviewed by PBS for the segment above, argue that keeping hens in enclosures such as porches is safer, as it prevents them from being infected by wild birds.

If you are concerned about the amount (and type) of space egg-producing hens have, you can consult the Cornucopia Institute’s Organic Egg Scorecard, which rates egg brands with the “organic” label on a scale from one to five eggs based on access to outdoor space, amount of indoor and outdoor space, pasture rotation, and transparency.

Two of the most common and easily understood markings you’ll find on a carton of eggs are its grade and size. The according to the USDA, There are three consumer grades for eggs:

United States (U.S.) Grade AA, A, and B. The grade is determined by the interior quality of the egg and the appearance and condition of the egg shell. Eggs of any quality grade may differ in weight (size). U.S. Grade AA eggs have whites that are thick and firm; yolks that are high, round, and practically free from defects; and clean, unbroken shells.

Freshness also plays a role in determining the grade, with the USDA simply stating that only the “freshest and highest quality eggs will receive a Grade AA.” All whole eggs sold in grocery stores are almost always Grade A or AA; Grade B eggs are sold a dried, frozen, and dried egg products.

Egg sizes range all the way from “peewee” to “jumbo,” with the size being determined by the average weight of a dozen:

Most eggs sold in grocery stores are large or extra-large, though it is possible to find a medium egg in a carton that is labelled “large,” as long as the average weight of all 12 eggs works out to 680.39 g or greater.

If all of this seems like too much to remember, you can always build a coop and raise your own hens, or source your eggs from a local farm. The yolks in local farm eggs have a darker colour and richer flavour than factory farmed eggs, and come with a nice smug feeling of moral superiority. (My favourite eggs come from my dad’s chickens, but Vital Farms, which is rated very highly on ol’ Organic Egg Scorecard, are a very close second).

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