Do we have the liberty to choose our food?

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posted on

January 5, 2018

Being born and raised in America, I have been trained to believe that I have “freedom”. I was taught the Pledge of Allegiance on the first day of Kindergarten, with the closing words “with liberty and justice for all”. I have said those words every school day since (and then some). That’s more than 2,160 times.

The definition of liberty, a synonym for freedom, is (1) the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views; or (2) the power or scope to act as one pleases. However, the current issues our farm is going through is a blatant reminder that my freedom and liberty is limited (if you’re not current with the issues surrounding our farm, I recommend reading David Gumpert’s blog; three of his five most recent blog posts were about our farm).

For many personal, moral, and health reasons, I choose to feed my family food as close to the source as possible. We eat real ingredients, ideally produced by farmers that we know and trust and practice in sustainable and humane ways. However, my access to real food is being threatened. How could this be? I mean, it’s a complicated issue, but a lot of it boils down to politics. And, this political bone broth has some powerful ingredients, complex flavors, and is ultimately not very good for your health.

How could an organic apple cost more than a hamburger from McDonald’s? It simply can’t, unless we subsidize the water, fuel, land, grain, and other costs associated with largescale beef production. The food system that I am choosing to support threatens big agri-business. And, I guess the people involved in big food politics are scared that, if enough people catch on or if real food becomes too accessible, the immense structure that they have built will collapse.

My hope is that people, real people who have the gumption to source real food, would stand up together for their rights to access the foods of their choice – to stand up now in hopes that the next generation will not have to fight this fight. And, I hope that government agencies will divert their efforts to real public health crises like autism (and an assortment of other neurological conditions), obesity, heart disease, HIV, and prescription drug overdose. This is where our taxpayer dollars should be going. Attacking small farms and their customers is downright unjust.

So, what can you do? Please, keep eating real food and standing up for your food rights. Vote with your dollar and support farmers and producers that are doing things the way you believe is right. If you believe in our farmer, please continue ordering. If you’d like to go the extra mile, donate to the Real Food Consumer Coalition, which is helping to protect our farm and food rights.

Opinion

Ugh greenwashed labels. What does it take to get ___ on a label anyway?

Not a fan of the confusing, greenwashed labels in store? Yea, me too! And it's especially real for me, because I'm responsible for getting our labels approved with the "powers that be". Here's a little story with a big inside scoop... I made new labels for our bone broth a little while ago. It didn't go as smoothly as planned. Why? I put the little icons about our farming practices on them. They look like this: Yup, despite being 100% accurate and true, they were denied!! We're not allowed to put those statements on our food labels. So, I asked the USDA guy, "What would it take to get those claims on the labels, anyway?" The answer was kinda shocking. First off, there's some guidance on wording. Silly technicalities in my opinion. For example, you can't use the term "No Spray" but you can say "Produced without the use of synthetic pesticides." Or another example is that you can't say "No Routine Antibiotics or Vaccines" but you can say "Raised without routine use of antibiotics or vaccines." Second, the processor needs to update their documents to provide traceability. In other words, they need to document how they make sure the bones for our bone broth don't get mixed up with bones from other farms. I mean, this is pretty simple, especially with small batch foods like ours. But the documentation needs to be meticulous. Drafting it in government-approved language can be time consuming and/or costly. And lastly, once you get the wording and process right, you need proof. This was the real shocker for me: Want to know what proof would suffice for all the claims above? A 2-3 sentence affidavit (AKA a super short letter) signed by all farmers that supply us. That's it!? This lead me to a bunch of questions: What if a company submits a letter from one farmer but actually has other farmers that supply them, too? What if a company changes farmers? Will they submit new letters?What if a company's farmers change their practices in the future? Will they immediately update their labels?Are the "powers that be" checking on this? Is anyone checking on this?Is this why most farms and food facilities don't allow outside people coming in? It seems to me that, if a business isn't doing what the label says, the only way to find out is via a whistleblower. And the only way to make them stop is to take them to court. You know, like what's happening with Vital Farms and their pasture raised egg claim right now. It seems to me that, all that good natural stuff on labels - grass fed, pasture raised, antibiotic free, etc - doesn't mean it's true. Certifications are a little better, but the same kinda thing can be said about those, too. This is why, at Miller's, we choose to NOT sell in stores. No wholesale for us. In fact, we don't even have an on farm store. We only sell directly to our customers via our website. And, we choose to only get certified for what's required. This way, we can make our own natural standards. And, we can provide you will all the info and proof you need. Descriptions, photos, blog posts, test results, and more. So, what do you think? Should we do the affidavit thing to get claims on our bone broth labels? What proof do you need to feel confident in your food choices? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below (no account required - just start typing) or contact us 😊

Do we have the liberty to choose our food?

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Ugh greenwashed labels. What does it take to get ___ on a label anyway?

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Miller's Bio Farm, 523 Valley Road, Quarryville, PA 17566