Adding Sunshine to Eggs

On Vitamin D Day (or Nov. 2), agri-entrepreneur Bill Vanderkooi of Vitala Foods in Abbotsford, B.C., launched Vita D Sunshine Eggs, the world’s first caged layer white eggs to provide 100 per cent of the daily recommended value of vitamin D in a single egg.

He launched the new line of specialty eggs in downtown Vancouver by having the Vita D Sunshine Crew give people their daily dose of “sunshine” through free Vita D Sunshine breakfast burritos. Appropriately, the weather that day contained heavy cloud cover, further emphasizing how common vitamin D deficiency is among people.

“We’re so pleased to make getting your daily dose of vitamin D more convenient and accessible,” Vanderkooi told the crowd.

To boost the vitamin D content in their eggs, hens are fed a proprietary all-natural, plant-based feed additive, which is rich in vitamin D. As a result, each egg contains at least 200 IUs, the current daily value set by Health Canada, about seven times that found in regular eggs.

Some health professionals are calling for daily diets to include at least 3,000 IUs of vitamin D, and Health Canada is expected to increase its recommendation to 600 IUs/day in early 2013.

Vanderkooi, who has a degree in animal nutrition, says he will be ready when that happens, saying “We will increase the additive so each egg contains at least 600 IUs.”

With a premium of just 50 cents/dozen over conventional eggs, Vita D Sunshine Eggs are the most affordable specialty eggs on the market. They are currently available only at the Overwaitea/Save-On Foods chain and Choices Markets in B.C., but Vanderkooi expects to take the brand national in the near future.

Instant Success
Since the Sunshine Eggs have gone on sale, they have been flying off the shelves. “Sales are exceeding expectations and we anticipate adding an additional flock by the end of November,” Vanderkooi says.

Producing the eggs for Vitala is veteran Abbotsford egg producer Ben Loewen, who has 19,000 birds in two flocks. Loewen also has a 13,000 bird farm nearby run by his daughter and a 14,000 bird farm in the north Okanagan run by his son.

Loewen had no hesitation in taking on the new program for one of his flocks when he was approached by his feed company this summer. After all, he remembers when “we used to put vitamin D in the water just for the health of the bird.”

Since the vitamin D is just a feed additive, Loewen has not had to change his practices, making the transition seamless. Despite believing the diet is “better for the birds,” he admits that they “have seen no change” in their health status.

“It’s not affected my way of farming and the birds’ way of living,” says Loewen.

Vitala pays the extra cost of the additive plus a five-cent/dozen eggs premium for the eggs. Although the premium is welcome, Loewen is just as happy to be part of an effort to increase overall egg sales.

“As producers, we’re businesspeople too. Consumers are looking for new products and we want to see our product sold when it’s as good as it can be.”

A New Market
The Sunshine Egg is not Vanderkooi’s first foray into the specialty egg market. His company already produces Vitala eggs, a free-run brown egg with omega-3 and 50 per cent of the recommended vitamin D. 

He intends to boost additive in that diet so that those eggs will also include a full dose of vitamin D. Vanderkooi is also formulating a third diet that will add omega-3 to the caged white layer Sunshine Egg, which will allow him to offer a complete line of specialty eggs with added health benefits at various price points.

“Our plan is to have three SKUs to cover the full demographic scope: Vita D Sunshine eggs, Vita D Sunshine Omega-3 eggs and premium Vitala Free Run Omega-3 Vitamin-D eggs,” he says. “We have been launching the eggs one at a time so we don’t overwhelm consumers with too many claims at once.”

Vanderkooi’s innovations have received the full support of the BC Egg Marketing Board, which has a policy to “keep some birds aside for product innovation and research.

“We have allowed [Vanderkooi] to do his experiments with non-quota birds,” says Al Sakalauskas, general manager of the BC Egg Marketing Board. “You can’t do those things in a lab.”

This is part of a deliberate effort by the B.C. industry to meet increasingly diverse consumer demands.

“Anything the consumer wants, we will try to supply,” says Sakalauskas, noting B.C. now has 16 product categories in the retail egg case: “more than any other province.”