Friday's Food For Thought

Eating is the most fundamental part of life,

and yet, it has become one of the most complicated.

Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of trying to be

a conscientious consumer is navigating through a sea of labeling.

Labels... what they mean and what they don't mean... can be as complicated

as a foreign language.

Unless you buy your food directly from the farmer,

or raise it yourself, your only clue as to how your food was grown

is in the labeling.

Let's look at the term "natural" or "all natural".  The FDA defines both of these terms to mean

the same thing.  Unfortunately, the definition is vague and meaningless...

and more importantly, not something that is regulated or inspected.

Thus, to say that a food is natural or all natural means nothing.

It can still have hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, and herbicides within it.

Don't be fooled into thinking that "Natural" products mean healthy products.

And read the ingredients on the label...

"Natural" tells you nothing about the healthiness of this product.

It tells you nothing about how those peanuts were grown.

If you read the ingredient list, you will see that the second ingredient is palm oil.

Palm oil, used to maintain the stable consistency of this peanut butter, is high in saturated fat.

What this label doesn't say, however, is... palm plantations are responsible for

40% of the world's deforestation.

All... so we don't have to stir the peanut oil back into the peanut butter.

Palm oil keeps the two from separating.

Me.... I'd rather stir.

Let's move on to something near and dear to my heart...

Perhaps one of the worst cases of deceptive labeling belongs to the egg and chicken industry.

Typically, chickens and eggs are raised in what are known as protein factories.

There is over-crowding.

The birds rarely see the light of day.

They may be held in cages for their entire life, or they may be free to roam on a floor

covered with chicken manure in a space that is so tightly filled with chickens that the birds cannot

actually walk.

A common practice is to de-beak the chickens (cut of their beaks) so that 

they cannot fight with each other.

The chicken meat that is sold in grocery stores comes from a few specific breeds of chicken

that were (genetically engineered) bred to be full grown with an extremely meaty breast

 at a prematurely young age.

If they are allowed to grow beyond their sacrifice age,

 their meat would be too weighty for their tiny skeletons to carry...

causing broken legs and the inability to walk.

(You may have noticed how much larger whole chickens are compared to the size they were

when you were young.)

These are just some of the horrors of chicken farms.

So, how do we decipher the many labels we find in the grocery store?

"Organic" - the animals were raised on organic feed.  

This says nothing about the conditions

under which the animals or chickens were raised however.

In order to use the USDA Organic label, 95% of the food substance must be organic.

The other 5% must be from an approved federal list of non-organic substances.

"Free Range" - means that the chickens must have access to the out-of-doors.

This usually means that there is a small fenced in yard area that they can access through a door.

The problem is... most times they are afraid to venture outside.

In the label below...

"No Antibiotics" means that the hens that layed these eggs did not receive antibiotics...

otherwise there is a list of antibiotics that are approved for use in laying hens.

"No Added Hormones" means the hens did not receive hormones.

This is true for all laying hens... and means nothing on this label.

"Non-GMO Feed"  should mean that the chickens were fed feed that was not genetically modified.

However the USDA non-GMO standards do not cover animal feed.

The most trust-worthy non-GMO label is the "Non-GMO Project Verified" label,

from another non-profit organization.

This organization maintains rigid standards for what they will certify as non-GMO.

In the egg carton below, you will see that there is a small green label that says vegetarian FED.

If the hens were pasture-raised as this label says, the above could not be true,

as they would be out eating grubs and insects.

Personally, I do not want my eggs to be vegetarian-fed.  Hens that are out and about

eating insects, etc. are the most healthy.

Chickens are not vegetarians.

Chickens are omnivores and need a balanced diet of protein and plants.

"Cage Free" - simply means that the chickens are not in cages.  The government standard is that

each chicken have 1.25 square feet of floor space... that is a square that is 15 inches by 15 inches.

Again, what is the attraction to "vegetarian fed hens"?

"Grass-Fed" - means that after weaning, the animal's primary source of feed

comes from grass and not grains such as corn.  However there are no uniform government standards

for this label, so the animals could have been exposed to hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, etc.

"Humanely Raised" - there actually are no legal standards for what is labeled in this way.

It is a vague term that actually means nothing.

"Certified Humane" - means that it was approved by the non-profit HFAC

(Humane Farm Animal Care), an organization that has strict guidelines for the care of

meat animals from birth through slaughter.  This label definitely means something.

Of all the egg cartons I have shown,

I suppose this would be my choice... if I had to choose.

"Pasture Raised, Certified Humane" seems to be the best choice for

healthier chickens and healthier eggs.

These chickens are given a larger area to roam free and are able

to enjoy the benefits of foraging for insects.

I am so grateful to be eating eggs from these girls...

There really is nothing better.

Healthy birds produce healthy eggs.

Sadly, there is much deception in labeling... and not much government over-sight.

Thankfully some non-profit groups have stepped in to assure that 

we can better trust brands that carry their seal of approval.

I have also found that in being conscientious consumers,

we run the risk of losing some of the joy of cooking and eating... and of becoming cynical.

Educating oneself and making the procurement of humanely-raised,

clean food a priority has its rewards, too.

Personally, though, food shopping has evolved into a many-stepped 

process, shopping here and there for items that feel "right" to me...

being a conscientious consumer has given me sense of control and a clean conscience.

I now can better control what I choose as nourishment for me 

and for my family... which gives me a sense of satisfaction.

Please let me know if Friday's Food For Thought is something you would like me to

continue.

And if so... are there any topics that you would like me to explore in more depth?