The American Egg Board (AEB) is a marketing firm established by the US government to promote the consumption of eggs. AEB has a $10 million/year budget for marketing that individual egg producers can access to market their own eggs. Since the AEB is run by the federal government, the AEB requires anybody using their advertising dollars to tell the truth. No false or deceptive advertising is allowed, and all proposed marketing campaigns must be approved. Additionally, communications between the AEB and egg producers are discoverable via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Dr. Greger’s NutritionFacts.org filed a FOIA request to gain access to these communications, and as a result, we have learned some very interesting insights to how the US Department of Agriculture actually views eggs.
The following terms are not allowed to be used when describing eggs:
Healthy
Healthful
Healthful ingredient
Part of a well balanced, healthy diet
Contribute healthful components
Good for you
Nutritious
Nutritional Powerhouse
High nutritional content
Pack a pretty great nutritional wallop
Contribute nutritionally
Egg-ceptional Nutrition
Relatively low in calories
Low in saturated fat
Relatively low in fat
Protein rich
Eggs are good sources of many other vitamins and minerals
Safe
Safe to Eat
Hardboiled
Softboiled
Over Easy
Sunny Side Up
The following terms are approved to be used when describing eggs:
Nutrient-dense (no legal definition here)
Can reduce hunger
Satisfying
Recognizable ingredient
Fresh
What the USDA has to say
The following are excerpts from the USDA in emails back to egg producers regarding the producers can’t use words or phrases:
“‘Nutritious’ and ‘healthy’ carry certain connotations, and because eggs have the amount of cholesterol they do, plus the fact that they are not low in fat, these words are problematic.”
“[Eggs] have nearly twice the calories of anything that can be called ‘low calorie’.”
“Eggs don’t meet the definition for low sat fat.”
“Eggs are only a good source of two other nutrients besides protein - choline and riboflavin. This doesn’t meet the ‘many other’ standard.”
“Can’t use the word ‘healthy’ because of the amount of cholesterol (risk-increasing nutrient) in eggs.”
“It may be counterproductive by implying there is no avoiding Salmonella in eggs aside from avoiding eggs all together.”
Why “Healthy” and “Safe” are prohibited
Why can’t “Healthy” be used?
The government has a definition of that in which a food has a maximum allowed amount of saturated fat and cholesterol. Even half an egg has more cholesterol than is permissible for a food to be called “healthy.”
Why can’t “safe” be used?
The FDA estimated that 142,000 illnesses each year are caused by consuming eggs contaminated by salmonella. Compare this to all the press that romaine lettuce is getting for salmonella illnesses which currently stands at 43 illnesses so far. That number is .03% of the annual illnesses from eggs.
A study funded by the American Egg Board concluded that consuming eggs sunny side up “should be considered unsafe” because salmonella is so prevalent.
Summary
If egg producers wish to use government money to advertise their products, they must tell the truth which prevents them from declaring their products from being healthy, nutritious, or safe.
Sources:
Nutrition Facts: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/flashback-friday-who-says-eggs-arent-healthy-or-safe/
The poor egg producers remind me of Moe Szyslak from the Simpsons when he was hooked up to a lie detector:
I've got a hot date tonight
Buzz
A date
Buzz
Dinner with friends
Buzz
Dinner Alone
Buzz
Watching TV alone
Buzz
Alright! I'm gonna sit at home and ogle the ladies in the Victoria's Secret catalog!
Buzz
Sears catalog.
Ding