Let's Actually Eat Meat: A Certified Food Label Thread

[washing machine]

Are things any easier since Michael Pollan and Food, Inc. really started holding a light to the food industry? I think so, but you have to know where to look and what to look for. I'm not quite there with the knowledge and Food IQ. I know of a few labels to guide me when I'm shopping but I don't really know what's fact and what's propaganda when I look at their websites. Let's use this thread to continue the discussion that was started in the Vegan thread about how horrible the meat and food industry is. How can we best shop with community and ethics in mind? I'm thinking particularly about meat, but out of season out of region vegetables that I use regularly are on my radar too.

Major certifications I'm aware of. Please post more and I'll add them to OP.

http://certifiedhumane.org/
https://animalwelfareapproved.us/
http://www.seafoodwatch.org/
http://www.gotexan.org/
https://www.brewersassociation.org/busi ... ewer-seal/

Last edited by washing machine on Fri August 04, 2017 8:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[The Argonaut]

I tentatively endorse this thread. Good luck, guys.

[tragabigzanda]

Can't wait to dive in later...

[washing machine]

I tentatively endorse this thread. Good luck, guys.

Thanks. I realized after making the title that it could be construed as a jab at your thread, which it's not. I hope that F&D can foster more threads like yours and mine in the future.

[washing machine]

Plant it Forward and Urban Harvest are both great things for my community. I actually took an elective class on urban farming in college ten years ago which has turned into one of the flagship gardens in the Plant it Forward project. The garden my class started is thriving and they operate a food stand every Saturday now. Pretty awesome to see that kind of return on something I was directly involved in. Yet I don't shop there nearly enough because I'm a selfish prick or just don't think about it (which is a symptom of selfish prickishness.)

http://plant-it-forward.org/
http://urbanharvest.org/

[E.H. Ruddock]

I'll let the experts handle this one

[wease]

I love ribeyes

[wease]

And bacon

[washing machine]

Let's talk produce. Obviously the best way to get produce is to seek out things that are local and in season. Seems pretty clear cut, but virtually every recipe and every day snacking habit I use calls for all sorts of fruits and vegetables from around the world. So, where does that leave us? Are there good and bad types of foreign veggies? Is it even worth the money and trouble to cook something that was picked before it was ripe and shipped thousands of miles? Does unripe picking have an effect on nutrients?

TL:DR - Can I eat a Georgia peach in January?

[E.H. Ruddock]

Let's talk produce. Obviously the best way to get produce is to seek out things that are local and in season. Seems pretty clear cut, but virtually every recipe and every day snacking habit I use calls for all sorts of fruits and vegetables from around the world. So, where does that leave us? Are there good and bad types of foreign veggies? Is it even worth the money and trouble to cook something that was picked before it was ripe and shipped thousands of miles? Does unripe picking have an effect on nutrients?

TL:DR - Can I eat a Georgia peach in January?

When I worked in Yakima I surveyed many orchards. I came to find out that most of the apples we buy in stores are a year old and stored in temperature controlled barns, usually on the orchard farm itself. I know this doesn't answer your question, but it is somewhat related. What is the purpose of this? Why not pick and ship immediately?

[malice]

Probably related to profits for the orchard

[washing machine]

Let's talk produce. Obviously the best way to get produce is to seek out things that are local and in season. Seems pretty clear cut, but virtually every recipe and every day snacking habit I use calls for all sorts of fruits and vegetables from around the world. So, where does that leave us? Are there good and bad types of foreign veggies? Is it even worth the money and trouble to cook something that was picked before it was ripe and shipped thousands of miles? Does unripe picking have an effect on nutrients?

TL:DR - Can I eat a Georgia peach in January?

When I worked in Yakima I surveyed many orchards. I came to find out that most of the apples we buy in stores are a year old and stored in temperature controlled barns, usually on the orchard farm itself. I know this doesn't answer your question, but it is somewhat related. What is the purpose of this? Why not pick and ship immediately?

Yeah, this is what I suspect happens with nearly everything I see in the healthy outer perimeter of the grocery store. Farmers markets and urban gardens are definitely the way to go. Until I want a Honeycrisp.

[tragabigzanda]

Probably related to profits for the orchard

Pretty simple: They need to stock up on apples when they can, in case the following season is a bust.

[washing machine]

Probably related to profits for the orchard

Pretty simple: They need to stock up on apples when they can, in case the following season is a bust.

Are fresh ones ever sold, or is this a perpetual stockpile situation that's now backlogged to hell? If fresh ones are sold, who gets them and is there a way for a guy like me to plan road trips and search them out like they were in-season McRibs?

[E.H. Ruddock]

Probably related to profits for the orchard

Pretty simple: They need to stock up on apples when they can, in case the following season is a bust.

Are fresh ones ever sold, or is this a perpetual stockpile situation that's now backlogged to hell? If fresh ones are sold, who gets them and is there a way for a guy like me to plan road trips and search them out like they were in-season McRibs?

Locally at the orchards they sold fresh, and in the markets in Yakima, but it was my understanding that all the shipped out ones were last year's harvest.

[washing machine]

This is troubling, indeed. I knew it already, or at least strongly suspected it, but hearing it out loud is a real shock to the system. Quite the omnivore's dilemma.

[tragabigzanda]

I mentioned in the vegan thread about my work with the Certified Humane and Animal Welfare Approved systems. When I was working on the college farm, I was tasked with building housing for 300 laying hens; the farm admin wanted the housing to conform to one of those two eco-labels...

I've read their guidelines cover-to-cover, and they are virtually identical; we ultimately went with Certified Humane. They prescribe things in minute detail, like "Perches must be cylindrical, at least 1" in diameter, and be positioned so that hens can dismount at a 45 degree angle." Other things like temperature, light, stocking density, and access to pasture are all tightly regimented as well. We wound up building mobile hoop houses very similar to this:



We'd move them twice daily, by chaining them up to the truck. The hens ate worms and bugs all day, were never stocked too densely, and were generally very happy and healthy. I can't speak to how well these organizations enforce their rules once a producer gets the label. But these days I only buy eggs that are Certified Humane, Animal Welfare Approved, or Free Range (which is NOT the same thing as Cage-Free).

[washing machine]

I can't speak to how well these organizations enforce their rules once a producer gets the label.

Last edited by washing machine on Fri August 04, 2017 7:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[tragabigzanda]

This is troubling, indeed. I knew it already, or at least strongly suspected it, but hearing it out loud is a real shock to the system. Quite the omnivore's dilemma.

Why is this troubling? You can always go apple picking at an orchard if you want the fresh stuff. If you've been eating the year-old apples all your life and were none the wiser, why is it a problem now? If the quality has held up, and they were produced under good practices, then it shouldn't matter how old they are.

[tragabigzanda]

Going back to the OP, here's another great label/set of guidelines for fish. The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch list will tell you when to eat which fish, and where they should be sourced from. They update the list regularly, and as best as I can tell are doing a stellar job:

http://www.seafoodwatch.org/