Boilermaker Butcher Block adds eggs from chickens fed orange corn

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University’s Boilermaker Butcher Block, located in the Land O’Lakes Inc. Center for Experiential Learning at 720 Clinic Drive in West Lafayette, will now offer farm-fresh eggs laid by Purdue chickens that are fed orange corn. The eggs are being sold for $6 a dozen, with the proceeds helping to support the Butcher Block’s educational mission.

Orange corn is a nutritionally enhanced type of corn developed by Purdue agronomy professor Torbert Rocheford as part of an international humanitarian effort aimed at addressing malnutrition globally. Since 2017, Rocheford’s startup company, NutraMaize, has worked closely with the Purdue Department of Animal Sciences to demonstrate the benefits of orange corn for poultry.

A team of researchers, including Rocheford and Darrin Karcher, associate professor of animal sciences, has found orange corn to have some benefits, such as having more antioxidant carotenoids, which are associated with darker, richer yolks and reducing the risk of age-related macular degeneration. Additional research from Purdue’s agronomy and animal sciences departments and NutraMaize found that orange corn produces healthier hens.

“We decided to sell the eggs because of the introduction of orange corn,” poultry unit manager Jason Fields said. “We thought it would be a way to introduce a product that nobody else had. We have a lot of pride in our birds and in the programs that we’re doing.”

Nearly every part of the egg production process takes place on campus.

“The orange corn is grown at the Agronomy Center for Research and Education,” Emily Ford, manager of the Butcher Block, explained. “The chickens are raised at the Animal Sciences Research and Education Center farms. The eggs are washed and packaged at the farms. Then we sell the eggs at the Butcher Block. It’s Purdue farm to fork.”

Fields said, “It’s great that we can provide food to people under the Purdue name, but it’s also another way that we can educate our consumers about the food and where it comes from.”

In the future, the Butcher Block plans to get students involved in the egg production. “We want to get all hands on deck,” Ford said. “We want to expose interested students to the process. Initially, however, we want to have a good idea of the process before we extend that knowledge to students.”

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.

Writer: Olivia DeYoung

Sources: Torbert Rocheford, trochefo@purdue.edu; Evan Rocheford, evan@nutramaize.com

Agricultural Communications: 765-494-8415;

Maureen Manier, Department Head, mmanier@purdue.edu

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