After decades of shoppers reaching instinctively for brown eggs, white eggs are suddenly back in fashion, with Sainsbury’s moving its own-brand range towards white shells as part of a broader lower-carbon strategy. More power to them, we say.
So, why are some eggs brown, and others white? Shell colour is determined by the breed of hen, not by nutrition, flavour or any other spurious virtue. Brown eggs aren’t automatically healthier, more wholesome or more “farmyard-coded”. In turn, white eggs aren’t bleached, anaemic or dubiously American. What matters is how a hen is cared for.
That is where the debate becomes moot. Retailers say white-feathered hens often require less feed, lay for longer and have lower associated carbon emissions. For BHWT, the message is plain – welfare is what counts. Everything else pales in comparison.