Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the interview I saw on CNN yesterday with Michael Pollan (author of Fast Food Nation) on the egg recall. In the interview, Pollan attested that studies have been done in the UK as to the safety of organic eggs versus conventionally farmed eggs, with the results being much more favourable than conventional eggs. He also cautioned that there may not have been any problems with organic eggs since they are not made in the numbers that conventional ones are.

There is something to be said for how a smaller farm operation is less likely to be contaminated than a larger farm operation. When chickens are not raised in deplorable conditions in tiny boxes, you have to imagine that the risk of food-borne bacteria such as salmonella adhering to the eggshells or being present in the eggs would be less likely. Pollan, not wanting to make himself a target for the food industry, was merely trying to present a moderate view.

During the course of the interview, the CNN reporter also stated that farmer’s markets have seen a huge spike over the weekend from people buying their eggs from there. Although there is a cost difference of 10 cents for a conventional egg and 50 cents for an organic or farm-fresh one, Pollan argued that a meal for a dollar is still a very good deal. Here’s hoping that the millions of Americans who sampled those farm-fresh and organic eggs over the weekend stick with it and start demanding better food safety laws in the USA, as well as some teeth in the FDA so that they can actually enforce these laws.