Shoppers may be curious to know where store brands are manufactured. Are they local? Do they make other store brands? In an ongoing “Generic Foods Investigation” in the Faster Times, Amy Westervelt’s goal is to find out who makes specific retailers’ private label products.
In her latest addition to the series, she explores consumer access to meat and dairy food tracing. She said the complex American food system has made is difficult to find out where grocery store products are sourced, and noted many consumers must trust retailers and companies to tell them the truth when it comes to product claims. FDA and USDA, which are supposed to do this job for shoppers, are understaffed and influenced by agribusinesses, she said.
Tracking numbers can help shoppers find out where meat and dairy products are sourced. She mentioned the Web site “Where Is My Milk From?,” which allows users to type in the codes found on dairy products and see which farm produced the product. She tried to look up Whole Foods Markets 365 Organic milk, but she said she couldn’t decipher the imprint. Trader Joe’s organic milk was much easier, and she found they carry local milk.
Even though meat comes with tracking codes, she said many ranches receive carcasses from a processing plant, which could be far away. However, to find out which ranch cut or grounded meat, she said the code can be found in the white USDA circle following the term “EST.” She suggested searching the Internet with this number for more information, and then calling the ranch to find out who provides the meat.
She then gave a call to action to her readers to help her contact Trader Joe’s private label organic meat packaging house, who has not answered her request to find out where their meat comes from. She gave the contact information of a woman who she has been trying to contact.
Other Trader Joe’s meats were tracked to California companies, which Westervelt said was a good thing because she bought the meat in California, so they are using local products. Whole Foods Markets meat also came from a California ranch. Organic Costco meat came from Dakota Farms Natural Beef, one of the few ranching operations in the country that births, raises and processes its cattle all within its own facilities.
She reported her next mission is to find out where Wal-Mart gets its meat.