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Comment by autoexec | Hacker News Reader

I've known about Cal-Maine's scammy practices for years. It's difficult to know which brands are associated with a group like Cal-Maine, but I did my best at one point to get a list which I still check before buying eggs.

The brands I've been avoiding are:

    4Grain Cage Free
    Egglands Best
    Farmhouse Eggs
    Land O'Lakes
    Fassio Egg Farms
    Southwest Specialty Eggs LLC
    Rocky Mountain Eggs
    Meadowcreek Foods
    Specialty Eggs LLC
    Red River Valley Egg Farm
    ProEgg Inc. 
    Dixie Egg Co. 
    American Egg Products LLC
    Texas Egg Products LLC
    Wharton County foods
    Benton County Foods
    Sunups
    Sunny Meadow
    Mahard Egg Farm
    Maine Egg Farms

Other Cal-Maine associated brands: Ralston-Purina, Pilgram's Pride, Adams Foods, Dairy Fresh Products, Foodonics Int'l,

Versova is new to me, but I'll try to avoid them too. It looks like their brands include:

    Center Fresh Group
    Centrum Valley Farms
    Iowa Cage FRee
    Hawkeye pride
    Ovation Farms
    Trillium Farms
    Willamette Egg Farms

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Cornucopia Egg Scorecard focuses on ethical treatment of hens but is sometimes a bit more expansive than that too. A convenient list of good eggs

https://www.cornucopia.org/scorecard/eggs/

All the brands you listed that I could find on their list seem to have the lowest scores.

I’ll stick with Kirkland Signature which is supplied by Wilcox. I don’t really think Costco ever raised their egg prices afaik.

Edit: it is a bit opaque but their main supply network allegedly includes Wilcox and Handsome Brook which are rated decently

Has Costco ever commented on its suppliers/sustainabillity or ethicality in this context?

Sadly no, so it’s likely opaque intentionally, for reasons.

Costco always enforces strict opacity on it's vendors as a trade secret - it allows them to negotiate from a position of power with fairly large players as well as preventing competitors like Walmart from potentially undercutting Costco by forcing an exclusivity deal or price war.

Ethical treatment of hens doesn't exist in the egg industry.

For example, Eight Mile Creek based in NY:

- uses flocks of 60 in mobile houses that allow the chickens to feed on grass and bugs outdoors without over stressing a particular plot of land.

- Hens have ample indoor and outdoor space.

- Chicks are allowed outdoors as early as 2 weeks old.

- Hens are provided enrichment and toys.

- Beak trimming is not practiced.

- Death rates are less than 2% and hens reach their natural lifespans.

- They are also allowed to molt naturally.

Its disgusting that, under Capitalism, all these parameters are seen as optional or luxury when they are the normal.

I'm 100% with you on the ethics, but I gotta ask: would this behavior be different under a different economic system? The only 2 reasons I can see it being stopped are either a government enforced regulation, or a public push against it, and neither of these are linked to economics at all.

I have to agree. I'm a critic of capitalism but the Soviet Union and others showed us that a (more) planned economy is just as capable of environmental and ecological atrocities as American industry is.

An ethics of stewardship and care has to be fought for either way. In both instances indigenous rights (and the landcare ethics that came with them) were trampled on in the name of "progress"

I’m not sure what this has to do with capitalism. You get as bad or even worse under other systems.

Pete & Gerry's seem to be legit from the research I've done. At least, I hope so!

That’s a lot of brands. You might have to buy a chicken.

So far I've always been able to find alternatives at the store, although they are usually more expensive. If I'm willing to go on a bit of a drive there are farms that sell eggs directly. I've been meaning to look into them. One of my relatives found a really cool farm not far from her where you can actually see the chickens walking around so you know they are healthy looking and not locked in a cage they can't move in. The whole thing is based on the honor system too, she just take whatever she needs from a fridge, and leaves cash in a little box.

Dpending on where you live, it light be easier to just get your eggs from a local farmer instead.

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