The people at Sparks Eggs are always looking for new ideas to improve eggs, a food Meb Gilani already considers perfect.
“All eggs are good. All we are doing is enhancing the eggs’ value,” said the farm owner. “We are providing what the consumer wants.”
Located northeast of Calgary, the family operated farm produces a variety of eggs including free run, organic, omega 3, vegetarian, omega plus and omega brown as well as regular brown and white eggs.
The business keeps 90,000 layers at farms at Calgary, Acme and Westlock. More than 50,000 birds are producing omega 3 enhanced eggs. In addition, Sparks processes eggs from 80 other farms.
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The free run hens are housed at Acme. To get them to lay on a special nesting system, lighting, feeders and water nipples are placed near a conveyor track and about 95 percent of the eggs are laid there. Those laid on the floor are gathered daily by hand.
“We try and employ different ideas on different farms,” said Gilani.
To produce omega 3 enriched eggs, hens are fed a special multi-grain diet that contains 10 to 20 percent ground flaxseed. Eggs high in omega 3 fatty acids are believed to help with heart health.
Within two to four weeks of hens receiving the special diet, their eggs’ omega 3 levels rise, said Muneer Gilani, Meb’s son.
Levels are monitored and the flax is adjusted to make sure the level stays above the percentage stated on their nutritional labelling. The eggs are slightly larger and the hens produce one or two fewer eggs per chicken per yearly cycle.
“As soon as you modify that feed, your production levels drop,” said Muneer.
“Adding the omega to the chickens’ diet actually hurts your production, but in terms of health, the chicken is just as healthy,” he said.
Sparks also offers an omega plus product. These eggs contain extra lutein, a nutrient required for good eye health that helps prevent macular degeneration, which causes vision loss in older people.
The extra lutein comes from adding 1.7 percent marigold petals to the feed. The yolks are slightly darker.
The organic line comes from a certified farm in Manitoba and is distributed through the Sparks network.
Enhanced eggs are more expensive and organic eggs are the highest priced because of the added costs needed to produce them.
“It costs quite a bit to get to that level to be certified organic. The regulations are extremely strict,” said Muneer.
The farm supplies eggs all over Alberta and is part of a co-operative of four producers from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia offering Gold Label eggs for clients like Wal-Mart, Sobeys and Calgary Co-op. The eggs come in a clear, plastic carton with nutritional labelling on the inside lid as required by law.
The packages also include the heart check logo authorized by the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Sparks Eggs was the first company to use clear cartons to market eggs in 1988. The concept did not fly, partly because of the expense of the packaging, but it has since returned and is well accepted as value-added marketing has become more popular.
The plastic cartons showing off each egg help convince customers they are getting something special.
“It is a gourmet egg. There is a lot of time and effort put into producing these eggs,” said Muneer.
Sparks Eggs was started in 1966 and the Gilani family took over in 1976. It remains a family run operation with more than 50 employees and handles more than half of Alberta’s egg production.
Eggs are graded and packaged at the Calgary location in Alberta’s only Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points accredited plant.
