oy vey - it's july
BREAKING NEWS: consumers want ethical, sustainable newsletters that give back to the community!
Do you hear that? It’s the sound of all the brands rolling up their rainbow-washed logos and putting them away until next June. Welcome to July!
I’m gonna take a wild guess that many of you are currently in a similar position to myself. We’re fucking pissed, we’re dealing with the constant onslaught of terrible global news, stress in our personal lives, inflation everything, etc, but like we’re fine, RIGHT? I found this swipe through post a few weeks back and hope it can help you balance being your authentic self while respecting the experiences and capacity of those around you.
What I’ve Read
Plant-Based MRE Survey Results - Survey was conducted in February with a sample size of 226 across ranks and military branches, almost 82 of whom are omnivores or omnivores trying to decrease their consumption of 1+ animal products. As with most surveys of a similar nature I didn’t find definitions for plant-based or any of the other terms used or if they were described for respondents. I ate quite a few vegetarian MREs my freshman year of college (a story for another time) and do not remember them fondly, I don’t doubt MREs could be vastly improved and that people in the military show similar preferences to general consumers.
Daily Harvest reports 470 cases of illness from this meal item amid recall and outcry - if you have lentil and leek crumbles from Daily Harvest freeze it and contact the FDA! The company was slow to address the claims publicly but the article says 28,000 units have been recalled in the past few months.
Interesting thread on Twitter, though a bit out of date compared to the info in the above article. I appreciated her calling attention to some gaps in food safety, specifically in the DTC space.
Biden signs the school meal waivers bill into law, but free meals are over for many - This article gives an idea of what is lost without the extension for the waivers in the budget; the TLDR is less kids are getting free lunch and many of them that no longer qualify will see higher prices than they may have paid before the pandemic-era programming.
Plus, a lot of the GOP politicians have been quoted opposing the extension because in order to receive funding, the school would have to state in their policies what they do to combat anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination and apparently these politicians think that’s just leverage that will be held over schools
The Legal Fight Over California’s Ban on Cruel Animal Cages Will Have National Repercussions - Basically fuck CA state rights & all who voted on Prop 12 bc cost to producers is clearly more important than showing a shred of decency to the animals to be tortured & eaten. Really really worth a read, it’s a very thorough and well cited piece.
The Field Report: New Report Says Plans to Reduce Methane Fall Short on Big Meat and Dairy - Another disappointment of this administration, they’ll continue to offer “incentive-based and voluntary partnership efforts” to the agriculture industry instead of extending the regulatory requirements they hoped the EPA would enforce against energy companies and landfills.
Queer Food Database - Pride Month may be over but the Queer Food Foundation is launching a database of “all things queer food”, if you or someone you admire are queer and in the food realm, apply join the database!
The US Is a Dumping Ground for Illegal Seafood. Some Lawmakers Want to Clean Up the Market - The seafood industry is deeply sketchy in pretty much every aspect, this was one of the main takeaways I got from reading The Secret Life of Groceries, plus all the other things we’ve seen happening in that industry over the years. While the U.S. restricts certain types of abuse, forced labor, and other practices for domestic fisheries, the water is really muddy for seafood that comes internationally (according to a source in this article, 85% of American seafood is imported). Apparently the EU, Canada, Japan, and Mexico are coming down on the seafood industry so the U.S. is “becoming the world’s dumping ground for illegally caught seafood”. The Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) is reporting to congress on ways we could do better and some of these seafood standards were tucked into the United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021.
What I’m Excited About
I started this section to always try and find one decent, or at least not shitty thing, to call attention to but I’m not in the mood to bright-side right now. We need to sit in the filth and wallow for a bit while we look for meaningful ways to channel our anger, or at least I do.
Recently, I’ve begun attending my local food policy council virtual meetings and am working to get involved with mutual aid groups in my community so I can add support to the efforts of existing organizers. Here is a great toolkit from Intersectional Environmentalist if you want a place to start “exploring community approaches to food activism and advocacy”.
I would love to hear what action steps you’ve taken in your own communities or what has been giving you hope lately, please share in a comment below!
Kvetch Sesh
"It's What's on the Inside that Counts": Frito-Lay Summer Trend Index Unveils Shifting Priorities and Eating Habit
Okay who is surprised that when consumers are asked if they want to buy from companies that participate in sustainability efforts, give back to communities, and treat their employees well, they respond yes? I mean when given hypothetical questions a lot of people will say they value the thing they believe is morally superior or what they are “supposed” to say, research bias 101. So first of all, are we really still doing research on this? I am aware that under our current reign of neoliberal American capitalism, this type of research and all of the following gripes are nothing new, but I reserve the right to be pissed.
Second of all, we should have no other option. Companies should not be allowed to maintain environmental practices that are known to harm the planet and contribute to climate destruction. Companies should not have the option to treat their employees poorly, though we know they’ll continue to do so because they absolutely can. There should literally be no opposition to these points because human rights and planetary health should not be both-sides issues. It’s mind boggling to me that this is considered a worthy use of time for one of the biggest food brands in the country owned by one of the biggest food conglomerates in the world .
The only bit about methodology that I can find is the following quote.
“This poll was conducted between May 26-May 27, 2022 among a national sample of 2,200 Adults and an additional 200 Adults ages 18-34. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race, and region. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.”
The Summer Trend Index appears to be FritoLay asking consumers softball questions to come out with facts and figures that look lovely scattered across the major food industry publications. Not to do the work of what I’m sure is a very capable communications team, but they could have at least taken this opportunity to mention what actions FritoLay or their big benevolent daddy company PepsiCo are taking in the areas consumers indicated they care about. According to their own research, 90% of consumers, “care deeply - about the companies whose snacks they’re eating” regarding the company’s sustainability practices, community impact around food access, and treatment of employees. But then FritoLay moved right along to discuss varied snacking habits and flavor preferences of Millennials, GenZers, and parents. You have nothing to share with that 90% of people who care about your ethics beyond you know they care? Not even a link to your company’s own sustainability landing page?
These same companies that spend their resources doing fluffy surveys like this already know that consumers say they want all the good-guy-ethical-company vibes but won’t really change their purchasing behaviors, especially if it means compromising on taste or higher costs. There is plenty of research showing consumers anticipate sustainably labeled products to be of lower quality, although there is also plenty of research showing the opposite; just depends on who funds the research and how people use the findings. They are also aware that ethical consumerism is a necessary phenomenon to address but society’s moralizing conquests change often so they only have to play the short game. Plus, most of us subconsciously or consciously buy-into greenwashing marketing and unregulated label claims because they make us feel good about what we’re buying, even if the claims a brand puts on the label are as full of air as a bag of chips.
We can research ourselves into the ground, as we have and will continue to do. At the end of the day it is up to these companies to either make radical changes and be the change our world needs, or keep doing what they’re doing that makes the shareholders happy. I mean, I guess the government could step up and set higher standards to protect their citizens and our environment even if *gasp* it cut into some profit margins, but we all know who keeps Capital Hill paid!
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