Eggs with green yolk

You may have seen white egg, brown egg, and blue egg. However, have you ever wondered the yolk of your eggs for omelets to be green? Oh My God, you will be surprised to know that it has already happened and scientists are very confused. What’s going on in this world. It has become a reality here in our motherland… India.

It was a day normal day in Malappuram, Kerala, before a hen on the farm laid eggs with the green-colored yolk. Many pictures and videos were recorded and uploaded online on various social media platforms and there was a boost, people from all over the world trying to contact the farm owner. It was the farm of Shihabudheen and his family, they are experiencing this past nine months, since the day his 6 hens started laying eggs with green yolk, the images and videos spread widely after he shared them.

In starting a family didn’t consume them, but transfer them to incubation. Later, when eggs hatched some of the eggs by the hen, new hens produced also started laying green eggs. They consume and said, they taste just like others.

Why it was green?

According to science, the yolk color is defined by the feed. Shihabudheen stated that ‘he had fed the same food, commonly given in Kerala to hens, to those hens also. Some natural herbs like rice, coconut cake, and Kurunthotti (Sida cordifolia — a medicinal herb), can impart color’.

And accidentally the source of the feed that imparted the green color was not found with any green pigment. Dr. Sankaralingam suggested that it would have to be ‘fat-soluble.’ which was truly determined after researchers the discovery of green pigment in the fat deposits below the skin of the hens.

As the yolk color determined by the feed bird eats not because of genetic variation, many of you already knew it. This incident proves this let’s see how? If a hen eats plenty of yellow-orange pigments i.e. xanthophylls, results in a darker orange egg yolk. When provided with the carotenoid-rich diet, you can able to see the red color pigment of eggs. When hens eat feed containing yellow corn or alfalfa meal, they lay eggs with medium-yellow yolks. When they eat wheat or barley, they lay eggs with lighter-colored yolks.

You can witness yolk turning green by only cooking the eggs long enough to harden them and then chilling the eggs by running cold water over the hot eggs as soon as the cooking time has elapsed, due to the reaction between the Sulphur present in the egg white and Iron in yolk form Ferrous Sulphate. Some yolk turn green due to the presence of Pseudomonas species. And the other way to do this is, if we inject green dye into raw eggs they could also turn green. And, if the diet is rich in Green pea or the feed rich in Green dye can turn egg yolk Green.

Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University members also come to this conclusion. And provided their feed for the hens and surprise surprise! Just within the gap of two weeks, the color of yolks again changed to yellow under university observations.

This has given impetus to demand for unique eggs with green color Shihabudheen is planning to hatch more such hens and eggs for commercial purposes.