Eggs

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31654, 15 April 1968, Page 8

Eggs

Sir,—The modern “battery” system does not produce a normal vitamin-packed egg, but, instead, a loaded super-saturated-fat and cholesterolhigh one detrimental to health. “Free range” hens feed normally on insects, worms, seeds, and grass. Alas! These eggs are not readily available to the publie, for even if they reach the Egg

Floor they are not marketed as a distinct product. As the health of the nation is Involved perhaps the Health and Agricultural Departments could take . action. —Yours, etc., VERY CURIOUS. March 28, 1968. [The district Medical Officer of Health (Dr L. F. Jepson) replies: “Modern poultry now thrive on a diet almost totally foreign to any food they found in nature. Fowls are primarily grain eaters, but research has shown that they require protein, minerals, and vitamins as well. The present poultry ration is one containing all the necessary ingredients for a balanced diet as a mash or in pellets. ‘Free range' bens still have the same high cholesterol value, and eggs are in fact the only rich source of cholesterol in the human diet. The consumption of eggs in the New Zealand diet does not usually raise the level of serum cholesterol.”]