by eatingkind | Feb 24, 2011 | Blog
They were very quick to respond, stating,
“We can assure you that we work very closely with our suppliers and only source humanely raised products and do not source from feedlots. At Trader Joe’s, we have been dealing with standards and practices in many different countries for over 49 years, and our buyers are diligent about making sure our suppliers and the products they provide are not below standards set by the USDA. In addition, our Quality Assurance Team and our buyers audit our vendors to monitor their facilities and practices.
Yay, I love shopping at Trader Joes and am very glad to hear that I can continue to do so!
by eatingkind | Feb 23, 2011 | Blog
After doing hours and hours of research (luckily work hasn’t been super busy, not that I’m using work time for anything not work-related….) I found out that there are some resources out there that help consumers figure out where to shop and eat. I suppose it’s been easier than I expected to make this change, although I’ve been focused mostly on grocers, not restaurants.
Most restaurants I did ask (I won’t name names) had absolutely no idea what I was asking about. A waiter at one restaurant thought I wanted free chicken when I asked if they offer free-range chicken.
A chef at a German restaurant downtown San Jose got very agitated when asked if the restaurant serves humanely-raised meat. He had asked me “if I was some kind of a vegetarian“, and without waiting for me to respond went into a tirade about how “there are six billion people on this planet and we rule the earth“, that if “the cows and pigs weren’t cheaply raised in feedlots, many would starve” and that “the little suckers are going to die anyway, so who cares.” His last comment about the “little suckers” was accompanied by a taser/electrocution noise. He must have added that for emphasis.
As annoyed as I was at his heartless words, it was a great learning experience and I walked away with two lessons. One, his statement about the cost-effectiveness of feedlots is a great one. Solution to the problem is not just about awareness and accessibility but also about affordability. While I don’t mind and can pay a few more dollars for free-range eggs and pastured beef, many others may not be as fortunate. It’s something I need to be more sensitive about and something I need to keep in mind as I talk to grocers, restaurants, and consumers.
Two, I’m starting to realize that animals who end up “food” after they die, are often thought of as “food” even while they live. Their ticket to the slaughterhouse defines them as beef and pork when they are still cow and and pig. Which makes it easy for us not to care, because they are just food, right? After all, I don’t care if my potatoes are thrown around carelessly or cringe at the image of my lettuce packed closely with a thousand of other lettuce heads. To the argument, “if they are going to die anyway, who cares how they live”, I have a very simple answer. Last time I checked we, as in human beings, will also one day die, and there are very few of us out there who don’t care how we live meanwhile. In fact, we spend an exorbitant amount of time, money, energy, you name it, to make sure that our lives before our final hour comes, are as good as they can possibly be. Our unavoidable death does not diminish the quality of our lives, and it shouldn’t for our hoofed friends either!
by eatingkind | Feb 22, 2011 | Blog
Chipotle
Yes, Chipotle is a little expensive but I think their food is extremely fresh and tasty. And during my last visit to this gourmet burrito joint, I noticed that a portion of their menu describes how each of their meats (cows, pigs, chickens, even dairy cows) is treated, i.e. no antibiotics, no hormones. Additional details are available on their website. I wrote to them to clarify whether the animals are also raised humanely. Here’s their response (it’s a lengthy one, but worth the read):
Thanks for writing us. We serve naturally-raised meats in our restaurants and this means that our livestock meets our natural-raised standards. We define naturally-raised as meat that comes from animals that are raised in a humane way, never given antibiotics or added hormones, and fed a pure vegetarian diet. All of our animals have room to roam but not all of our farms meet the criteria for “cage-free/free-range” and therefore, we classify them as naturally-raised.
Additionally, with regard to having “room to roam,” this all depends on size of the bird. For example, larger birds are going to have more square feet per bird. The general rule of thumb is that you can walk into the house and easily have at least three feet of space around you. The birds will scatter a little if there is room so having a 3-foot space all the way around you, easily, is actually a six-foot diameter circle. Rest assured, our chickens are raised in a large living space with plenty of room to move around and access to daylight. Unfortunately, chickens will consume anything they may find on the ground. Sometimes the things they find are good, but in other instances they do not have a discerning pallet and can consume things they shouldn’t.
This environment also allows us to control the chickens’ diet so that we can ensure that what they are eating is healthy and well-balanced, in addition to being 100-percent vegetarian and free of animal by-products. We have also worked with the leading humane treatment expert, Temple Grandin, who has approved our standards, which include diet/nutrition, space requirements for the animals, and very specific metrics regarding humane handling slaughter. Despite our efforts, we also know that there is a lot of room for improvement.
We have looked at free-range and we’ve even purchased from farmers who do this in the past. Unfortunately, demand far exceeds supply. We have made a lot of progress in selecting suppliers who practice techniques which vastly improve the quality of life for chickens, but we know we can do more. And we are definitely working on it. While we know there is more we can do, we’ve also come a long way so that is encouraging since we really believe it can be done and we’re committed to it.
They sound pretty genuine about their efforts and their concern about farm animal welfare. Go Chipotle!
by eatingkind | Feb 18, 2011 | Blog
So my next steps for February/March are:
- Reach out to restaurants and grocers who are already carrying AWA-certified products to find out why and how they got started, what drove them to adopt the products
- Reach out to a list of identified local restaurants and grocers, to see if they will plan to carry AWA-certified products in the near future, why, why not, etc.
by eatingkind | Feb 17, 2011 | Blog
I wasn’t always a foodie, but I have always loved food. Growing up in Russia, with its unique cuisine, taught my palette to appreciate meat jello, smoked herring with mayonnaise, chicken livers and cold beet soup. Now that I’m an adult living in Bay Area, an extraordinary mecca of culinary giants, and am fortunate enough to be able to dine at restaurants such as Manresa, French Laundry and Gary Danko, I am in food heaven.
Fast-forward to this February 2011 when I attended the MeatExpo in Las Vegas, an “all-things-meat” trade show. After being visually and audibly bombarded with information about food health, government regulations, cattle disease and best meat processing equipment I wondered why animal treatment or quality of life wasn’t mentioned even once.
So after coming home, I looked into it. It didn’t take long to figure out why farm animal welfare is an avoided topic. I mistakenly watched a few videos showing what most cows, pigs and chickens go through before they end up on our plate. Horrified, disgusted and traumatized doesn’t begin to describe how I felt. After I started breathing again and had no more tears left, I decided that I had to do something. I wasn’t going to become a vegan or a vegetarian, but I was going to stand up for the rights of these abused, neglected and battered animals.
So my plan is to start local. There are several grocers and restaurants that carry Animal Welfare Approved products (as I learned, AWA is the most stringent certifying program out there). My plan is to connect with these progressive companies to understand their story: why they chose to carry humanely-raised meat, what hoops they had to jump through, does it cost more and what I, as a consumer, can do to drive other stores to follow in their footsteps.
My hope is that grocers and restaurants will see that the consumer demand is out there for humanely and sustainably raised meat. My hope is that others will read this blog and will want to do their own research and hopefully will join me in my mission. My hope to connect with others who are and have already done so much to help make improvements to learn what I can do better. My hope is to make a difference, no matter how small.
