Maurice Pitesky, UC Cooperative Extension poultry specialist at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, is providing free egg testing for California backyard chicken owners. Pitesky's staff is testing eggs for different types of contaminants, depending on the county the eggs are from.

He asks ANR colleagues to encourage backyard poultry owners to submit their eggs for the study.

For eggs from counties recently affected by wildfires, Pitesky will test for fire retardants. He is also looking for lead and PCBs in eggs from certain regions of the state. 

“Our goal is to better understand the connection between the environment and our food with respect to exposure to various inorganic chemicals,” said Pitesky.

Results will be shared individually with each owner, and cumulative results will be summarized and made available to the general public. 

For more information about the study and how to package and ship eggs, visit http://ucanr.edu/sites/poultry/Egg_Contaminant_Testing.