• A once subtle shift is now occurring at an accelerated rate

• Consumer awareness concerning where our food comes from is growing at a rapid rate

• Creating a radical shift in the food industry • Ethically produced food has become a mass-market

phenomenon • Ethical issues are emerging around production and

packaging • Unilever CEO Paul Polman called for radical

changes in the system of food production.

• A once subtle shift is now occurring at an accelerated rate

• Consumer awareness concerning where our food comes from is growing at a rapid rate

• Creating a radical shift in the food industry • Ethically produced food has become a mass-market

phenomenon • Ethical issues are emerging around production and

packaging • Unilever CEO Paul Polman called for radical

changes in the system of food production.

• "Based on UN projections, there will be 3bn extra mouths to feed by 2050, which equates to 70% more food than we're currently producing," Polman said & suggest 4 core proposals to tackle the dilemma:– The widespread adoption of sustainable farming

practices;– Government commitment to investment in

agriculture;– The removal of "market-distorting subsidies and

incentives"; – The freedom to trade without barriers

• conscious consumer groups, corporate vendors & professional associations

• informative web-sites• shifts in organic farming & sales• mass production of “ethical food”• a flood of new terms defining food• conscious options on menus• conscious restaurant concepts

• Synthetic fertilizers introduced to farming (1940s) making possible mass production

• Uses of Corn-cheap feed to creatively arranged molecules comprising product “ingredients”

• Subsidized crops creating commodity food • Mono-cultures (corn, soy, CAFCO)*• Altering animals diets to corn (instead of pasture

feed) or from an herbivore to an omnivore even cannibalistic

• GMOs lead to more yield• Monsanto patents life (round-up ready seed)

• Results:– An over abundance of the species pest –more

pesticides needed to control it– Soil depletion-need for fertilizers– Weed overgrowth-need for weed killer– New disease causing bacteria (E. Coli)-need for

antibiotics and or more chemicals– Pollution and Waste (synthetic nitrogen & manure)– A few companies have power * – Dependent on inputs (oil, feed, chemicals…– More vulnerable – Control over farmers (seeds, chicken houses…)

•

Factory Farms & CAFCO

• run like a factory -actually require about 50 gallons of oil (form of chemical fertilizers) per acre of corn or more than one calorie of fossil fuel for 1 calorie of food.

• Factory farms are ecologically expensive but economically cheap.

• Animals feed: liquefied fat, corn & grains• Growth Hormones are injected to increase

yield and shorten growth time

Organic Farming• Movement (1943) to Big Business(1990s)– the organic farming movement began at the same

time the industrialized farming was being developed in response to chemicals being introduced to farming

Used a systems approach- mimicking nature-sustainable

– Government regulation of organic begins• After a long process (7 yrs), in 1997 a vague definition

of organic allows for GMOs, sewage sludge & irradiation• Standards continued to be modified as “the old

movement & “the new industry” battle it out

Result

• A definition that supports a more environmentally responsible kind of farming but it still allows room for isolation thinking instead of systems approach thinking.

Understanding terms

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB)

• http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/NOSB• Recommendations made by the NOSB are not

official policy until they are approved and adopted by USDA.

• The current board is comprised of: 4 farmers/growers, 2 handlers/processors, 1 retailer, 1 scientist, 3 consumer/public interest advocates, 3 environmentalists, & 1 USDA accredited certifying agent. Members come from all four U.S. regions.

• Small organic farmers into mainstream production• Big Corporations are buying organic farms• Stoneyfield Farm, owned by Dannon-a $365 million organic

yogurt manufacturer and the biggest in the country• Cascadian Farms, now a subsidiary of General Mills, acquires

Muir Glenn

• Organic sales in 2009 represented a 5.1 percent growth over 2008 sales

– indicating the consumers’ preference and priority for conscious food even during the economic recession

• Industrial organic farms are dominating the market (based on high yields and isolation thinking)

Organic/Local Farming• Farmers Market– Growth: from 1994 to 2010 –a 249% increase.

And from 2009 to 2010 -a 16% increase

• Farming Alliances– Good Nature Family Farms- an alliance of 75

farmers in Kansas City, MO they sell their products to independent grocery stores

• Sustainable Farming• Urban Farms (usually sustainable)

Farming practices comparedIndustrial Industrial Organic Organic Sustainable

Monoculture Monoculture Polyculture Polyculture

High volumes of Waste

Medium volumes of Waste

Minimal waste No waste

Fossil Energy Significantly less fossil (No synthetic fertilizers)

Could be a combination

Alternative

Global Market National Market Local Market Local Market

Specialized Specialized Either Diversified

Mechanical Mechanical Either Biological

Synthetic Pesticides Organic Pesticides Organic Pesticides Local (Nature)

Synthetic fertility Organic fertilizers Organic fertilizers Local fertility

Isolation Isolation Either Systems Approach

• It has been proven that a medium size sustainable organic farm is far more productive per acre than industrial agriculture (costs: feed, fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones, waste management, petroleum)

• Science supports:– Polycultures are more productive & less prone to

disease– Plants grown in synthetically fertilized soils are:• less nourishing than those grown in composted soil• more vulnerable to diseases and insect pests

“ How we farm & ultimately our food choices are ethical questions”

-Joel Salatin, Polyface farms • He makes $3,000 an acre VS. $150 an acre for

industrial farms• He has not planted a chemical fertilizer or

bought a seed in 50 years. • He is not an organic farm but he is a

sustainable farm

Understanding terms

• “Growing meat on grasses makes perfect ecological sense a sustainable –solar powered food chain that produces food by transforming sunlight to protein.”- Micahel Pollan The Ominvores Dilema p. 70

• Industrial processing has made energy dense food the cheapest to buy-cheapest calories are the unhealthiest– $1 buys 1200 calories of potato chips– $1 buys 250 calories of carrots

• Isotope comparison tests show Americans are mostly corn and more so than any other culture*

WHY we consist of so much corn?

• Corn feeds our meat (cow, pig, turkey, lamb…even fish!)

• Corn feeds our dairy (cheese, milk…)• Corn in various intricate manifestations

(sweetener, preservative, leavening agent, flour, oil…) is most of our processed foods

• Some 45,000 items in the avg. American supermarket and more than a quarter contain corn.

• Just as we see in nature with monocultures, the same is true for “monodiets”

• We eat what the animal eats (corn, oil, liquefied fat, hormones, antibiotics…)

• Most chemically or synthetically modified foods are not recognized as food by our bodies systems*

• Result:– Disease: increase in variety & growth rates– Resistance to antibiotics– New allergies

Independent parts: Human (farmer, worker, consumer, government) Land, and Animals

Goal: to economically (affordable and at a profit) produce enough food to feed the population while take caring of the health of the environment, human, animal and community

• By design it will flow (operate) as a harmonious system with all constituents (internal & external) as one. All decision are made to maintain this flow (based on how it impacts each constituent, not in isolation)

• If you want to observe a system that operates in flow and harmony with itself-observe nature.

Respondents agree to the following criteria for ethical food:

• avoid harming the environment• meet high safety standards• use environmentally sustainable practices• avoid inhumane treatment of animals• be produced to high quality standards

• Ethical food accounts for a small percentage of the total food produced yet there seems to be a growing number of “so-claimed” ethical food products being sold on the market.

Why are you selling ethical food?• Is the foodservice operation selling an ethical

food because they believe in the product or as a business decision in response to consumer demand?

• If based on a belief you will want to make ethical choices around that belief. In order to do so:– understand the terminology & it real meaning– Learn how to read labels & seek out the

information you want to know about a product.

Understanding terms

“ethical food” (or not) in the marketplace

• Some restaurants have been caught claiming their food product is locally sourced when in reality they are purchasing 1 or 2 boxes of the food from the local farm and 10 from the commercial supplier

• Some suppliers have been caught using terms in a misleading manner or certification violations

• restaurants build their image around conscious food– Chipotle Mexican Grill– Elevation Burger– Ted’s Montana Grill– Bon Appétit Management– Wolfgang Puck Companies– Pizza Fusion– Seller’s market

• Dean Foods, includes a synthetic nutritional oil that is prohibited in organics. The product, Horizon Fat-Free Milk Plus DHA Omega-3, bears the USDA organic seal despite a ruling in 2010 by the USDA that the proprietary DHA oil, an ingredient derived from algae, is not legal in organic production

• Hearthside Food Solutions manufacturer of Peace Cereal, claims “natural” breakfast cereals are grown and processed without pesticides or artificial additives, as well as being minimally processed and preservative-free.”

• The slow food movement’s rapid growth (20,000 from 2008 to 2010) Started in Italy in 1989 and now globally has more than 100,000 members in 50 countries

• Mission-to educate consumers on land stewardship and ecologically sound food production; cooking to strengthen relationships between people; further consumption of organic, local, seasonal food; and create collaborative ecologically oriented community

• DEMONSTRATES A SHIFT IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND A CALL TO ACTION

• The FreshPoint produce division has a partnership with Produce Marketing Association (PMA) & PrimusLabs that takes local produce safety directly to small framers interested in selling through the foodservice channel.

• Educating small farmers on food safety mandates and how to build a solid food safety program that meets distributor and operator requirements.

• Foodservice 2020 Initiative: goal is to increase fresh produce use in restaurants – Educate the buyers (operators and distributors)• basic care handling techniques that can enhance flavor

& food safety– Packaging that protects against contamination– Seeds that protect against E.coli

• how produce can lower plate costs

• formative web-sites that report on company practices include:– greenopia • directory of eco-friendly retailers, services, and

organizations based on extensive unpaid/unbiased research on those listed in the guide

– cornucopia institute• organic egg scorecard rates companies that market

name-brand and private-label organic “shell” eggs based on 22 criteria that are important to organic consumers

informative web-sites• The Eat Well Guide– listings of farms, restaurants, and other

organizations that demonstrate a commitment to food and farming that supports local food systems including:• SustainableOrganicLocally sourced/distributed

Ethically produced

• http://www.eatwellguide.org/i.php?pd=Home

Cornucopia Institute

• Brands with a 1 egg rating: (produced on industrial farms that house hundreds of thousands of birds and do not grant the birds meaningful outdoor access. )

• There are 33 organic eggs on the market with a one rating

• Some familiar brands: Trader Joes, 365 organics by Whole foods, Kirkland Signature by Costco, and Horizon

5 Rating

• Nationwide there are 36 companies with a rating of 5 which are mostly isolated to an area or state

• Only 5 in certain areas of CA:– Northern California: Organic Pastures &

Alexandre Kids – Other areas of CA: Full Circle Dairy, Elkhorn

Organics, & St. John Family Farm

Reading Labels• Understand the terms• Read ingredient labels not claims on the front!– The longer the list the more additives, chemicals

and synthetic ingredients • How many items do you have no idea what it is?

– “if you can not pronounce it don’t eat it”

• Ask yourself how many ingredients are needed to make this product

– Ingredients are listed in the order of contribution to the product• Look for the ingredients claimed on the label in the

ingredient list (ie-multi-grain, oats, real cheese….)

Reading Labels• Be aware of health by association (Cheerios

(banana nut) & Organic (with additives)• Read nutrition information and compare to

claimed ingredients (almonds high in protein)• Read nutrition information and portion size!• Read unbiased product/company review• Look for 3rd party certifications (Green Seal of

approval, certified organic, fair trade…)• Read source (where and who)

Is it an Ethical Product?–How is it packaged?–Who Manufactures it?–How is it disposed of? –Are their any certifying bodies? –How is it produced? (sustainable,

industrial, Organic, organic industrial, belief based…)–Are they using a Systems Approach?

• Considering that our industry plays a major role in providing food for consumption to the general population, we have a responsibility to provide at minimum safe food all the way to high quality nutritious food

• What responsibility do we have to provide ethical food?

Ethical Food Purchasing• Source: Where will you purchase your food?

Consider advantages & disadvantages of each and justify your choice– Farmers Market, Corporate Food Vendor, Direct

from Farm, Hyper-Local (Restaurant garden), Urban Farm

• Parameters to assure Food safety (operators and distributors)– Transportation/Delivery– Storage– Packaging

Ethical Food Purchasing

• Based on where you purchase your food, how does it change your food safety concerns– FAT –TOM- Food, Acid, Time, Temperature,

Oxygen, and Moisture

EXAMPLE:• farmers market purchases:– Transportation– Storage (packaging & label)– Properly clean and wash food

sourcing locally, and organic

• Costs can be 10 to 20 percent more than wholesale

• more limited and unpredictable (less consistency)– Quality• Understand terms like "sustainable” ,"artisan”,

“organic”, “free-range”, “natural”….

– Quantity

• Do farms have a responsibility to use farming practices that produce ethical food?

• Does how we produce our food affect our health?

• Can a farm produce ethical food for the mass population and still operate at a profit?

• Do restaurants have a responsibility to the consumer in regards to how the food is grown? How it is produced? Labeled?

• Is mass production organic farming in support of the new food revolution?

• Do food purchasers have a right to know how their food was grown beyond industry defined terms?

• Is Ethical food an area of CSR for restaurants?

• Does a claim on a menu have to be true 100% of the time?

• Are the current definitions of food terms clear or misleading? What do they mean? Should they be regulated?

Case Study: