Tag Archives: purchasing

New USDA Search Tool Helps You Find A Farmers Market Near You

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Are you looking for a farmers market in Missoula, Montana that sells both eggs and cut flowers? How about one in Birmingham, Alabama that accepts food stamps? Or one to visit while on vacation in Sitka, Alaska?

The government is here to help. The U.S. Department of Agriculture just launched a great new section on its website that lets you search a national directory of farmers markets to find exactly the one you’re looking for.

The site lets you search for farmers markets by location, available products, accepted payments and even, bizarrely, the type of location. This last option will surely be a boon to those with a strict policy of only patronizing farmers markets located in religious institutions or closed-off streets.

The USDA actually made some of this data available to developers last May, so the Apple App Store already contains a few apps that can help you find a local farmers market. And a site called Local Harvest has long collected and shared its own list of farmers markets, small farms and CSAs.

But the USDA’s new search tool is fast and user-friendly, and is closer to the source of information than any of these other contenders.

It’s also a powerful sign of how far the farmers market movement has come in recent years. Not so long ago, farmers markets were rare enough — at least outside affluent pockets of California — that there would have been no point in looking for a very specific type of farmers market, or one in a very specific place. If you even knew about the joys of farmers market shopping, you would take what you could get.

Now, though, USDA data shows that more than 8,200 farmers markets are operating across the country — enough that you really do need an app or a website to sift through them all.

via New USDA Search Tool Helps You Find A Farmers Market Near You.

 

And here’s the link to USDA site:

http://search.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/default.aspx#

 

The Least Sustainable Seafood – Fish You Shouldn’t Eat

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It may seem like the ocean is just a bottomless pit of fish sticks and sushi, but the reality is that our supply of seafood is finite. Through rampant overfishing and just generally treating the ocean like a cheap buffet, we’ve depleted the populations and ruined the habitats of some truly delicious fish.

To find out which species are in the most danger, we spoke with Reid Bogert, sustainability coordinator at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, who in addition to scaring us skate (zing!), offered some tasty alternatives. Read on to learn more about which salmon is safe, which seafood certifications to look for, and why grouper are basically screwed.

via The Least Sustainable Seafood – Fish You Shouldn’t Eat.

What the FDA’s Trans Fats ‘Phase Out’ Really Means – Eater

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e Food and Drug Administration announced its plan today to phase out trans fats from the American food industry. Two years ago, the FDA acknowledged that trans fats were probably unsafe for human consumption, but until now, there was no national policy on their use in the food industry. This new decision, designed to be implemented over the next three years, was motivated by nearly two decades of research showing major health risks associated with the food additive. In its announcement, the FDA noted that artificial trans fats “are not ‘generally recognized as safe’ (GRAS) for use in human food.” More bluntly, they’re very bad for you.

via What the FDA’s Trans Fats ‘Phase Out’ Really Means – Eater.

Why the FDA’s new ban on trans fats may be most important change in our food supply ever – The Washington Post

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When all the talk tends to center around how the U.S. food system is failing people, it can be easy to forget its successes. But one of those instances has been brought to the forefront this morning.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it will implement a new near-zero tolerance ban of partially hydrogenated oils, the main source of trans fats. Food companies will be given three years to phase the ingredient out of their offerings. The decision comes on the heels of a 2013 announcement that a ban was imminent.

And it is a very big deal.

“It’s probably the single m

via Why the FDA’s new ban on trans fats may be most important change in our food supply ever – The Washington Post.

Jeni’s Ice Creams Shutters Shops Again Amid More Listeria Concerns – Eater

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I guess the silver lining here is that it seems like this company is doing the right thing to prevent people from getting hurt.

CEO John Lowe broke the news today in a blog post to the Jeni’s website, which reads in part:

We have found Listeria in our production facility again. We discovered the Listeria through routine swabbing as part of our monitoring program. We stopped production earlier this week and have been investigating where and how it may have re-entered the facility. … Since resuming production in our kitchen on May 13, 2015, we have been testing every batch of ice cream we have made and holding it until we learned that the testing did not detect any Listeria. So it is with complete confidence that I can say all of the ice cream that has been served in our shops since reopening on May 22 has been safe and is 100% Listeria-free.

via Jeni’s Ice Creams Shutters Shops Again Amid More Listeria Concerns – Eater.

 

Here’s How Much Mouse Poop The FDA Allows In Your Food

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You’ve probably eaten mouse poop — and the federal government is just fine with that. It’s also fine with mold, rat hairs and insect legs.

The Food and Drug Administration, you see, has detailed guidelines on how much filth can be found in many of the foods sold in America. The FDA enumerates these guidelines in a document known as the “Defect Levels Handbook.” The introduction to the handbook explains that “it is economically impractical to grow, harvest, or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects” — and that these so-called “defects” present no real risk to human health.

The FDA also says that many food companies take measures to ensure that their food actually contains far lower levels of these defects than their regulations require. If a food exceeds these levels, the FDA can label it “adulterated” and ask that it be taken off store shelves.

via Here’s How Much Mouse Poop The FDA Allows In Your Food.

 

Organic Farmers Object to Whole Foods Rating System – NYTimes.com

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Like a whale and the myriad barnacles clinging to its sides, Whole Foods Market and organic farmers have long had a symbiotic relationship.

The grocer has helped stoke the American appetite for organic products, building stores that are essentially showcases for organic fruits, vegetables and flowers tagged with the names of the farmers who grow them.

But that mutually beneficial relationship is now fraying, as Whole Foods faces increasing competition from mainstream grocery chains and as organic farmers find more and more outlets for their produce.

Now, some organic farmers contend that Whole Foods is quietly using its formidable marketing skills and its credibility with consumers to convey that conventionally grown produce is just as good — or even better — than their organically grown products. Shoppers can choose from fruits and vegetables carrying the designation of “good,” “better” or “best.”

Continue reading the main story

RELATED COVERAGE

Whole Foods Market Reports a Rise in SalesFEB. 11, 2015

The longtime suppliers to Whole Foods are complaining that the program called Responsibly Grown can grant a farmer who does not meet the stringent requirements for federal organic certification the same rating as an organic farmer, or even a higher one. Conventional growers can receive higher rankings than organic farmers by doing things like establishing a garbage recycling program, relying more on alternative energy sources, eliminating some pesticides and setting aside a portion of fields as a conservation area.

via Organic Farmers Object to Whole Foods Rating System – NYTimes.com.

Lobster Prices Surge Due To Cold Ocean Temperatures

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Remember those halcyon days when lobster was so cheap that you could afford to put it on mac n’ cheese, french fries, tacos and grilled cheeses? You know, way back in 2013?

Those days are over.

Over the past year-and-change, lobster prices have risen sharply since record catches in Maine pushed them to historic lows in 2012 and 2013. In April, the Maine Department of Marine Resources reported that lobster prices rose 79 cents per pound between 2013 and 2014, the biggest rise in recorded history. That was great news for Maine lobstermen, who netted $456 million worth of shellfish in 2014, the most ever. But it’s disappointing to consumers who have grown used to relatively low prices for luxurious lobster meat.

The price surge has accelerated this year. Though reliable data on lobster prices is somewhat hard to come by, the spot price for wholesale live lobster in Boston reached as high as $5.25 a pound on June 9. And data provided to The Huffington Post by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicated that the average price of a pound of lobster at wholesale climbed as high as $7.90 this March. Though lobster prices usually peak in the spring, that’s 32 percent higher than the price in March 2014.

CNN Money attributed the recent spike in prices to this winter’s unusually cold weather in the Northeast. The North Atlantic remains colder than it usually is at this time of year, so lobsters have, by and large, stayed out of reach of fishermen.

Matt Jacobson, executive director of the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative, said that prices should ease as water temperatures rise this summer, just in time for vacationers in Cape Cod and Kennebunkport to feast on lobster rolls. But it’s unlikely that they’ll dip back down to the lows they hit a couple years ago.

via Lobster Prices Surge Due To Cold Ocean Temperatures.