 The American Egg Board is a promotional marketing board appointed by the US government, whose mission is to increase demand for egg and egg products on behalf of US egg producers. Now if an individual egg company wants to run an ad campaign, they can say whatever they want. But if an egg corporation wants to dip into the $10 million the American Egg Board sets aside for advertising, because the board is overseen by the federal government, corporations are not allowed to lie with those funds. What a concept. Which leads to quite revealing exchanges between egg corporations that want to use that money, and USDA and what egg companies can and cannot say about eggs. Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, I was able to get my hands on some of those emails. Of course, there's a lot of what I got looked like this. Please note a number of items about our Salmonella Crisis Module. Any questions? Or even better, entire sheets of paper literally just said this. That was the whole sheet of paper. Our tax dollars hard at work. But check this out. This is some egg company trying to put out a brochure on healthy snacking for kids. But because of existing laws against falsely misleading advertising, the head of USDA's Poultry Research and Promotion Programs reminds them that you can't couch eggs or egg products as being healthy or nutritious. See, the words nutritious and healthy carry certain connotations. You know that food is actually good for you. But because eggs have the amount of cholesterol they do, plus all the saturated fat, the words healthy and nutritious are problematic when it comes to eggs. This is the USDA saying this. However, the USDA helpfully suggests you can say eggs are nutrient-dense. Wait a second. Why can you say eggs are nutrient-dense but not nutritious? Because there's no legal definition of nutrient-dense. You can say Twinkies and Coca-Cola are nutrient-dense, but legally you can't see something as nutritious unless it's actually nutritious. So, for example, the egg industry wanted to run this ad calling eggs a nutritional powerhouse that aids in weight loss. The USDA had to remind the industry you can't portray eggs as a diet food because of the fat and cholesterol content. In fact, they've nearly twice the calories of anything that can be called low-calorie. Nutritional powerhouse can't be used either. Fine, the industry said, they'll move to Plan B and headline the ad, exceptional nutrition. Nope, because again, given the saturated fat and cholesterol, you can't legally call eggs nutritious. So, the ad ended up fine true satisfaction, and instead of weight loss, they had to go with a diet that can reduce hunger. USDA congratulated them on their cleverness. Yes, a food that when eaten can reduce hunger. What a concept. You can't even call eggs a food relatively low in calories. You can't say eggs are low in saturated fat. They're not. You can't say they're relatively low in fat. You can't even call them a rich source of protein because they're not. It's illegal to advertise that eggs pack a nutritional wallop. Can't truthfully say that. Or have a high nutritional content. You can't say eggs are nutritious at all. Can't say nutritious. Cannot say eggs are nutritious. Sometimes you have to tell the industry a few times. Eggs have so much cholesterol, you can't even say they contribute nutritionally. Can't say eggs are healthful. Certainly can't say they're healthy. And how much cholesterol there are in those things? Can't say healthy. Can't even say eggs contribute healthful components. Since you can't say eggs are a healthy start to the day, the USDA suggests a satisfying start. Can't say, can't call eggs a healthful ingredient, but you can call eggs a recognizable ingredient. Can't truthfully say eggs are good for you. Can't say they're good for you by law. The egg industry needs to steer clear of words like healthy or nutritious. For food to be labeled healthy under FDA rules, it has to be low in saturated fat. Eggs fail that test. And less than 90 milligrams of cholesterol per serving. Even half an egg fails that criteria. For the same reason you can't tout an ice cream for healthy bones, you can't say eggs are healthy because they exceed the limit for cholesterol. Egg corporations aren't even allowed to say things like eggs are an important part of a well-balanced healthy diet on an egg carton because it would be considered misleading, according to the USDA's National Egg Supervisor, since eggs contain significant amounts of fat and cholesterol, and therefore contribute to the leading kill in the United States heart disease. The industry can't afford to tell the truth about eggs or even the hens that lay them. The industry crams 5 to 10 birds in cages the size of a file cabinet their whole lives. But when providing footage to the media, the American Egg Board instructs, do not show multiple birds in cages. They look too crowded and open us up to activist criticism. In other words, do not show the truth. Not only is the industry barred from saying eggs are healthy, but they can't even refer to eggs as safe. All references to safety must be removed because more than 100,000 Americans or salmonella poisoned every year from eggs. The Egg Board response to this eggborne epidemic is that salmonella is a naturally occurring bacteria. The egg industry didn't think that should necessarily be the key message faring it may be counterproductive and no avoiding salmonella in eggs, aside from avoiding eggs altogether. That's why the American Egg Board can't even mention anything but eggs cooked hard and dry. No soft-boiled, no over-easy, no sunny-side-up because of salmonella. The American Egg Board's own research showed that the sunny-side-up cooking method should be considered unsafe. And because of avian influenza as well, not just salmonella, in light of bird flu viruses, eggs must be cooked firm. The VP of Marketing for the Egg Board complained to the USDA, saying they'd really like to not have to dictate that eggs, that yolks, are firm. What about some Washington Post article saying running yolks may be safe for everyone except pregnant women, infants, elderly, and those with chronic disease? Turns out that was a misquote. They can't be considered safe for anyone. Instead of safe, you can call eggs fresh. The USDA Marketing Service helpfully suggests. But you can't call eggs safe. You cannot say eggs are safe to eat. You can't say they're safe. You can't even mention safety. You can't say they're helpful. All references to healthfulness must be deleted as well. Wait a second. Eggs can't really be called healthy? Eggs can't even really be called safe? Says who? Says the United States Department of Agriculture.