Day 16 - New views on poultry

My last post stated that I wrote an email to Al Fresco all natural sausages. (If you don't know what I am referring to please read Day 15 - Price differences and hot dogs)

Here is the email I sent to Al Fresco and their reply:

I have recently purchased and tried your sun-dried tomato sausages. They are really good. When I tried locating the ingredients and origins of the chicken used for your sausages I was not able to find any detailed information. Our family is very health conscious and we generally eat only organic/free range chicken. It states that the chicken is natural. My questions are:

What exactly does natural mean? Are the chicken without growth hormones? Are the chickens used for your sausages free range? I assume if they would be you would have a USDA label/organic on your package. So, what is the origin and treatment of the chickens?

Thank you for taking time for reading and responding to my inquiry.

Dominique

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Dominique -

Thanks for your email, recent purchases, and wonderful comments!  Here are a few things to assist you in your questions:

·         What does "all natural" mean?

al fresco meets all requirements for the USDA “all natural” definition and holds our products to an even higher nutritional standard to ensure we are delivering a product that is not only delicious, but healthy.

"All natural", as defined by the USDA is a product that is made without chemicals, food additives or refined ingredients and is minimally processed. There are no artificial colors, flavorings, preservatives, additives, fillers or by-products in these products.  These products have been processed with non-synthetic or non-chemical methods.

·         We are not Organic, nor are the chickens “free range.”

·         As to Hormone Free, the government does not allow the use of hormones in chickens so we feel that it is false marketing – you will notice that whenever that claim “no hormones administered” is made on a poultry label, there is an asterisk, which leads to the claim:” the government does not allow hormones in poultry”.

·         Lastly, we purchase our chicken meat from USDA plants inside the U.S.  All of these plants have animal welfare programs in house.

Hope this helps!

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First I laughed about the Hormone Free statement, then I researched it. And by golly they are RIGHT! Here is an excerpt from USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) - which is a glossary of meat and poultry labeling terms. FSIS is the agency responsible for ensuring the truthfulness and accuracy in labeling of meat and poultry products.

"NO HORMONES (pork or poultry):
Hormones are not allowed in raising hogs or poultry. Therefore, the claim "no hormones added" cannot be used on the labels of pork or poultry unless it is followed by a statement that says "Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones." 

 I feel dumbfounded and absolutely unsure of what to believe anymore. I feel I have to start my research again and get to the bottom of things. The excerpt on hormones and poultry is pretty straight forward, therefore I am not going to dispute that, but what about the things I have read and seen? Were they all outdated were they all false statements or did I just misunderstand?
I read somewhere that the NO HORMONES law has been in place for more than 60 years now.
Do you understand why I am writing this blog now?
Isn't the healthy organic way complicated? I am glad I started this blog to share our experience and knowledge with everyone. I will do a better research, but this is a proof that everything is a "trial and error" approach.

I remember reading that hormones are being used on chickens. I saw a feeding tag. And what about the chickens in the Food Inc. don't they have all sorts of medications to prevent bacteria - didn't they show that the growth of chicken has changed from 70 to 47? I am going to find out more and shed a little light on this. It is definitely confusing and I think this might be a little shady...more to come

To answer the organic bakery. I don't believe there is a truly organic bakery in town. One that has a majority of organic bread (using organic flour) is the Zeppole Bakery & Cafe. I am proud to say that I have a permanent exhibit at the Zeppole Bakery on Parkcenter Blvd. Charles Alpert the owner of the bakery offered me a spot and I had the wall ever since last September for my world travel exhibit. So, another reason to enjoy their bread. I never really cared about bread/pastries when adhering to a low carb diet, therefore I never knew that Zeppole Bakery has a brand called:

  breads that are made with Certified Organic flours!

Pay them a visit and while you're there take a look at my exhibit.

Zeppole Bakery & Café — 983 E. Parkcenter Blvd. (at the corner of Apple and Parkcenter Streets)
Monday – Saturday 6 am to 6 pm (Friday until 7) and Sunday 8 am to 4 pm
Zeppole Downtown — 217 N. 8^th St. (between Bannock and Idaho Streets)
Monday – Friday 6:30 am to 8 pm, Saturday 8 am to 8 pm, and closed Sunday