Recent Comments

Darned right it is - good eye! Thanks for the note. -Lee

Good answers, thanks!

Thank you for taking time to comment on the Just BARE Chicken, Part 2 blog entry. The issues you raise are all good ones, and your comments are very constructive in helping to frame the challenges of transitioning to a more sustainable food system. To get straight to the point: yes, many of the chicken products sold today, including those from Gold’n Plump, come from chickens that are conventionally raised—with antibiotics, with arsenicals and with animal by-products—all administered judiciously following stringent FDA and USDA guidelines and withdrawal periods for food safety. However, I’d like to clarify a few of the rearing practices for the Gold’n Plump and Just BARE brands—not to sell you on either approach but rather to set the record straight on some common misconceptions. You can also learn more on the Gold’n Plump Web site’s FAQ section at http://www.goldnplump.com/our_company_chicken_facts.cfm. Raising commercial poultry is more complicated than it seems—and there are trade-offs. The fewer management tools we have at our disposal, the harder it becomes to balance the desire for “less” with the absolutes of our business: food safety, quality, humane care and consumer affordability. Gold’n Plump will not make compromises when it comes to food safety, quality and humane care. We will do what we believe is right for consumers and our chickens—every time—even if that means using an effective animal husbandry practice like arsenicals that may not be acceptable to everyone - at least until another equally safe and effective method is available. Exactly what are arsenicals? Just the word is alarming—until you understand their purpose and that they’re not derived from the synthetic, poisonous arsenic that many think of, but rather the naturally occurring variety (and a very small amount at that). We encounter the latter type of arsenic in our everyday lives. It’s in the soil that grows our crops, the water we drink and the air that surrounds us—even in the newspaper we read. And because it occurs in nature, there are naturally occurring levels of arsenic in many of the foods we eat like shrimp (42,000 ppb), haddock (2,200 ppb), drinking water (up to 10 ppb) and boneless skinless chicken (20 ppb). Amounts indicated are from just one study I’ve read on the topic. A ppb is short for parts per billion—a really miniscule measurement that’s equal to 15 drops in an Olympic-sized swimming pool containing 810,000 gallons of water, or 1 second in 32 years according to Wikipedia. The FDA has established allowable levels for the various foods and the amount listed above for chicken is just 1/25th the established guideline (which, by the way, is 500 ppb for uncooked chicken muscle). Now, why are they used? Arsenicals serve a very important purpose in producing safe food. In the world of chicken rearing, they are used by many poultry companies as a proven, effective and safe tool for keeping our chickens healthy. How? When added to chicken feed, they help prevent a serious chicken illness that commonly occurs in the intestinal tract of chickens. Doing so ensures humane care as well as helps to maintain product quality and consistency, improve food safety by reducing salmonella, and reduce the need for antibiotic treatments. Not using it would lead to unnecessary and inhumane suffering and death—something we won’t tolerate for both financial and ethical reasons. So when necessary (which can be as little as a few months out of the year), we use them. Most interestingly, not using arsenicals does not impact the level of naturally occurring arsenic in foods. That’s because we follow stringent federally regulated safe usage practices, including withdrawal procedures, to ensure product safety. These practices require that chickens are weaned from feed additives well before processing. Withdrawal periods are verified through extensive research trials, and typically far exceed the time it takes for them to pass through the chickens’ systems. Our compliance is continuously verified by a sampling program carried out by the USDA and FDA. The same careful usage also applies to antibiotics. In poultry production, antibiotics play an important role in raising healthier chickens and thus supplying a cleaner, safer supply of chicken to the market. At Gold’n Plump, our chickens are raised by experts in animal science, nutrition and rearing. We rely on veterinarians and our own field serviceman to monitor and maintain the well-being of our flocks. All antibiotics are used judiciously and administered according to FDA guidelines and under the careful supervision of animal health experts and the local family farmers who are responsible for each flock’s daily care. As with arsenicals, these guidelines outline safe withdrawal periods, which require chickens to be weaned from all antibiotics well before processing. This ensures there are NO antibiotic residues in the chicken that you buy and serve to your family. Last but not least, animal by-products. Again, these sound more ominous than they are. Like many poultry companies, our feed includes a small percentage of safe, natural animal by-products like meat and bone meal and blends of vegetable/animal fat—since these are the best, most readily sources of protein and fat available. All of our suppliers are based in the upper Midwest and meet all FDA and USDA standards for food safety and quality. So, you’re wondering: If we can raise healthy chickens humanely without arsenicals, antibiotics and animal by-products for Just BARE, why not for Gold’n Plump? The answer is: we can’t—not with the current tools and methods we have for commercial production. Because Just BARE is only a portion of the chicken Gold’n Plump sells, we have more flock management options like barn rotation at our disposal. We also can treat a flock if needed to ensure humane care—those chickens just aren’t packaged under the Just BARE label. But we’re hungry to keep finding new tools and methods that are less concerning to consumers and providing products that meet their needs—functionally and fundamentally. And while poultry raised in a pasture may be a more ecological solution, we know not everyone can afford or even wants chicken raised that way—nor does everyone have the time to visit or access to a local farmers’ market. Instead, most of us shop at grocery stores. That’s where brands like Just BARE fit. Just BARE is the start of real change to improve our food system— a baby step toward bringing more sustainably produced food to more people. While it isn’t perfect, it is an affordable and more widely accessible solution for consumers who are conscientious about what they eat, how meat products are raised, and their environmental footprint. Because Just BARE’s benefit is derived as much, if not more, from its traceable, recyclable package as from the natural chicken inside.

How do I sign up for the next one? Where will it be held?