Selenium eggs, anyone?

The bad news is that eggs still have cholesterol. The good news is that eggs – at least one brand, anyway – now contain selenium, an antioxidant that may help control cell damage leading to, among others, cancer, cardiovascular disease and aging.

Bounty Farms’ selenium eggs are currently being market-tested in four Metro Manila supermarkets, one of which caters to wholesalers. "We’re eyeing the upscale market because our cost of production and, consequently, our retail price is higher than others in the industry," said president Edwin Chen.

Selenium eggs cost P50 per tray or dozen compared to the P38 per tray price tag of regular eggs. That translates to a P1 difference in unit cost between a selenium and a regular egg.

Beneficial effects

Chen first learned about the beneficial effects of selenium, a non-metallic trace element that can be found in seafoods, meat and Brazil nuts, during his trips abroad. Studies showed that women need 50 micrograms of selenium daily while men need 70 micrograms for more healthy and functioning bodies.

A 1996 study called SELECT, which first looked into the direct effects of selenium and vitamin E on the risk of prostate cancer in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada, showed there was about a 60% reduction in the number of new cases of prostate cancer in men taking selenium than in men who did not.

A three-year study by University of California professor Gerhard Schrauzer showed countries like Japan, where selenium uptake reached a high of 255 micrograms, had less lung cancer cases than in countries like Germany, where the selenium uptake was only 75 micrograms.

Sold on the idea, Chen decided to introduce selenium in the Filipino diet through the birds in his family’s five-hectare layer egg farm in Sta. Maria, Bulacan

In 1998, he looked up US-based Alltech Biotechnology Center, which produces selenomethionine (organic selenium) in fermented or plant yeast under the brand name, Sel Plex. Based on Alltech’s data, chicken and hog farms in Korea which used organic selenium in their feed formulation ended up not only with better quality meat and eggs but also with more productive and reproductive animals and birds.

Since last year, Bounty Farms has been using feeds that contain 35 micrograms of organic selenium. To determine how much of the selenium is passed on, samples of the farm’s eggs have been sent to a Thailand-based laboratory.

Marketing

To build brand awareness, Bounty Farms has focused its marketing strategy, to date, on dieticians in major hospitals in Metro Manila and on supermarket owners. "We intend to be in two more supermarket chains this year," said Chen.

During weekends, Bounty Farms pushes its product through free taste tests in supermarkets. Shoppers taking their first taste of a cooked selenium egg cannot tell its difference from regular farm eggs in terms of taste and quality. The shopper who buys a tray, however, soon discovers that a selenium egg has a longer shelf life, its yoke does not break during frying and its shell does not easily break. And if all the studies are accurate, a selenium egg is also healthier to eat.