Newswise — When students at Grinnell College sit down to breakfast, they can be assured that their eggs come from chickens raised in a cage free environment.
In fact, the nationally known Liberal Arts school in Grinnell, Iowa, is proud to boast that not only is the office of Dining Services using eggs from cage free hens, but produce and other foods raised, produced, and grown by "local" producers.
"We are always interested in locally grown products," said Dick Williams, director of dining services at Grinnell College. "I try to remain pro-active and look for areas that can fit into the programs we provide and that also fit into our budget,"
Most recently, Dining Services has contracted with Farmers Hen House, Kalona, Iowa, to use eggs produced by cage free hens " chickens allowed to roam free in a large barn with access to the outdoors.
According to Williams, the eggs they receive from Farmers Hen House are raised primarily (about 90 percent) from Amish/Mennonite farms in Iowa. And, according to officials with Farmers Hen House, a good number of the farms they work with have never had a chemical herbicide or pesticide applied to the soil, a claim hard to make anywhere in the U.S.
"I think we are just doing our jobs to make sure that the eggs we buy are from chickens that are treated as humanly as possible," Williams said. "I think the students' response has been very positive."
Williams was able to tour one of the barns used for raising cage-free hens and came away impressed with the process used by Farmers Hen House.
But it's not always easy for administrators with Dining Services to obtain foods that are grown locally. The items need to be delivered to the College and, in many cases, must be refrigerated at a constant temperature.
"I consider anything grown or raised in Iowa to be locally grown," he said. "But it is a challenge to locate only locally produced items, year-round."
The main reason is the growing season.
"After the fall is over, we have to turn to national producers for many products," Williams said. But not all.
Williams has succeeded in locating a number of locally grown items that he makes available to students, including eggs from Farmers Hen House and
"¢ Fresh vegetables available from area producers during the growing season "¢ Fluid milk from Roberts Dairy using milk from Iowa cows "¢ Tofu/yogurt/tempeh from Wildwood Harvest in Grinnell "¢ Pork from Iowa farms "¢ Soybean oil grown and produced by Iowa farmers "¢ Fresh herbs grown by Mariposa Farms in Grinnell "¢ Honey from Sioux City "¢ Pasta from Ames"¢ Bleu cheese from Maytag Dairy Farms in Newton"¢ Asoyia, a lower saturated fat cooking oil (trans fat free) produced from soybeans by Iowa farmers
Even with this list, he was glad to locate a vendor for cage free eggs. According to Williams, Grinnell College uses both eggs in the shell and those eggs that have been cracked and have been packaged in liquid form.
"It does cost us more to use cage free eggs, but we are also paying less for the eggs in liquid form which helps our budget needs," he said.
Williams estimates that Grinnell College uses more than 1,440 eggs and about 350 gallons of liquid eggs a week.
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