New Seasons Market

Information on 2008 Food Safety Incident: E.coli Infection Connected to Organic Baby Spinach

2009-06-15T14:53:00.000-07:00

By Brian Rohter, CEO

A few days ago we received information that one of our customers had contracted an E. coli infection in 2008, sometime between August and October. It was determined that the infection had come from eating organic, baby bulk spinach that had been grown on a farm that had E. coli contamination. Our customer had purchased the baby spinach at our Arbor Lodge store in North Portland. Late Wednesday (June 11th) was the first time we heard anything about it at all. We’re very sorry that spinach that was for sale at one of our stores made someone sick.

We don’t know the name and we’ve had no direct contact with the person who became ill. We spent a good part of the last few days trying to gather more information. I immediately called the epidemiologists for Multnomah County and for the state of Oregon. We’ve been told by the state epidemiologist that the contamination was limited to one farm and that the individual who got the infection from baby spinach purchased at our store did not become seriously ill. For that we are very grateful.

Since this incident took place more than eight months ago, there’s no imminent danger and there’s no recall, so there’s no reason for anyone to throw away their spinach or to stop eating spinach. We no longer are selling any products from the farm where the spinach was grown.

There are three points regarding food safety I need to share with you.

First, we promise transparency about what occurs at New Seasons Market. If there’s a problem, we’re going to let you know as much about it as we possibly can, as soon as we possibly can. That’s why I’m making this post today.

Second, since we opened the doors of our first store in 2000, we’ve had over 36 million customer visits and this incident is the very first time we’ve been told by any health agency that a customer became ill from eating something they purchased at one of our stores.

Third, I think what surprised me the most about this incident was the fact that, even though multiple agencies had investigated the situation and even though they had issued an internal report in January, no one ever let us know that there had been a problem. In the last few days, I’ve had some great conversations with the food safety folks at both the county and state levels. These are clearly smart, hard working people who are committed to doing everything they can to make sure that our food supply is as safe as possible.

I told the state epidemiologist that in instances like this I thought it was critically important to develop a communication plan that would ensure that retailers, restaurants and others would be immediately informed so they would be able to better protect our customers regarding food safety issues. He agreed whole-heartedly. I volunteered to contact Dr. Bruce Goldberg, the director of the Oregon Department of Human Services to share my concerns about this gap in the system. I’ve asked Dr. Goldberg to put together a group of stakeholders to immediately develop a protocol for addressing food safety problems in the future. I’ve suggested that the group include participants from the state and county health departments, the grocery and restaurant industry, food distributors, food manufacturers, farmers and other food producers and the general public. I’ve suggested that the meetings of this group be well publicized and that the media be invited.

Finally, I do want to assure you that we take food safety really seriously. The safety of our customers and our staff is, by far, our number one priority. We’re very supportive of the existing Oregon Department of Agriculture inspection program. We also voluntarily contract with an independent third party inspection company to do unannounced food safety inspections in our stores 36 times a year. We voluntarily require all staff working in our kitchens, delis, meat departments, seafood departments, produce departments, bakeries and food demonstration departments to pass a food safety course and obtain an Oregon food handlers card before they start work at New Seasons Market. Over one thousand of our staff members, more than half of the total number of people who work here, have completed that training. Additionally, over two hundred of our managers have received ServSafe certification, which means they’ve completed a comprehensive training program on food safety. A manager at each of our stores performs a food safety audit every day.

I wish that I could promise everyone that none of the food we sell would ever have any safety risk. Unfortunately, I can’t make that guarantee and of course, in all honesty, neither can any other grocery store, restaurant or food producer. This incident clearly reinforces the idea that we need new food safety and public health policies for the 21st century. We’re going to continue to be an active participant in the design and implementation of these much-needed programs.

We’ll keep you updated. Thanks.

(Hood) Strawberry Fields Forever!

2009-06-03T11:13:00.001-07:00

By Lisa Sedlar, President

Summer in Oregon is my favorite season...but not for the reasons that you may think. I'm one of those Portlanders who adores the rain, so it's not that I'm a sun-starved, can't-stand-another-drop-of-rain person. The reason I love summer in Oregon can be summed up in two words: Hood strawberries. This is the strawberry that all other strawberries aspire to be. Their flavor is so intensely sweet and luscious it might cause you to wonder why have you wasted your tastebuds on those rubbery, bland, pseudo-strawberries from elsewhere. There’s just nothing like the flavor of our local Hood strawberries. So you can imagine my delight when I received this update from Chris Harris, our local produce buyer:

"The warm weather has brought on the local berries sooner than expected. And this year, we could have more local organic strawberries than we have ever seen before. We have four growers lined up to supply us:

Unger Farms in Cornelius, Oregon, will be delivering the classic Hood variety of strawberries to stores daily starting this Saturday.
Bella Organic Farm on Sauvie Island, Oregon, has 6 to 8 acres devoted to organic strawberries with Hoods, as well as three ever-bearing varieties: Tillamook, Seacrest, and Aroma. Attached are pictures from my visit to Bella Organics yesterday.
This weekend, we will also see some organic berries from Zorn Farm in St. Paul, Oregon, who has about 2.5 acres of the Totem variety (very similar to Hoods but not quite as perishable)
And next week we will see some organic berries from Ken Efimoff in Woodburn, Oregon, who has about 1.5 acres of Hoods. With all these local growers…we should be able to get fresh organic berries delivered to our stores six days a week.

The Hood season will only go for three to four weeks, so enjoy them while they last”

Sounds like we will have a bumper crop of local berries, so if you want to extend the Hood season you can buy a flat (or two) and freeze some or make a batch of strawberry refrigerator jam. Here’s one of my favorite recipes—it’s fast and doesn’t require a degree in chemistry to make:

Ingredients:
2 Pints Hood Strawberries
1 ½ c. Cane Sugar (I use Woodstock Farms Organic Cane Sugar)
1 T Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed

Preparation:
Rinse, hull and slice berries and combine with sugar and lemon juice.
Allow to macerate overnight, stirring occasionally, until all the sugar is melted.
Next day, bring to a boil over medium heat.
Remove berries to a bowl with a slotted spoon and cook until the consistency of syrup or for you chemistry wonks: 220 degrees on a candy thermometer.
Replace the berries in the syrup and cook 3 minutes longer.
Pour into clean containers (glass or plastic) and cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
When cool, cover and refrigerate.
This recipe yields 3 cups and the jam will last a few weeks. You can also freeze it to extend the shelf life.

Maybe you have a great strawberry recipe or story you’d like to share?

Inside the Farmer-Chef Connection

2009-04-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

By Krista Anderson
New Seasons Market Company Chef

As Head Chef for New Seasons Market, I’m always looking for ways to bridge the gap between the people who grow our food and the people who eat it. Connecting one-on-one with the farmers and ranchers themselves is the best way to make that happen, and there’s no better opportunity to do that than at the Farmer Chef Connection conference. Imagine dozens of local food producers coming together for an all-day networking opportunity with regional food buyers, sharing food, swapping ideas and making offers, building relationships that will benefit both parties and ultimately, the consumer.

The Farmer Chef Connection conference is the innovation of the Portland Chapter of Chefs Collaborative. I was part of the original Portland CC Steering Committee, which we formed in 2000, sitting around a table at Greg Higgins’s restaurant. The first conference was held in 2001 at WillaKenzie Winery in the Willamette Valley. Each year since, attendance has grown, and the conference has benefitted greatly from the administrative support and partnership of the local non-profit, Ecotrust.

This year—the ninth!—the conference was hosted by the Portland Chapter of Chefs Collaborative, and held at Clackamas Community College, with about 220 farmers, ranchers, pickle makers, cheese makers, educators, lawyers, nutritionists, chefs, and students in attendance. Our own Jon Beeaker, Store Chef at the Raleigh Hills New Seasons Market, was the host of the event, multi-tasking between introductions on stage and preparing lunch in our makeshift kitchen. Our keynote speaker was Brent Foster, an environmental attorney for the Oregon Department of Justice. He spoke at length about the implications of the installation of liquefied natural gas pipelines which would cross the state of Oregon from east to west, and the legal battles farmers and ranchers may face as those pipelines are installed. Brent showed photos of the damage the digging does to precious farmland and waterways, and cautioned against importing yet another fossil fuel from overseas. This is a hot topic, and there are very strong opinions on all sides of the issue. It’s worth learning more about, and you can read details of the proposals along with some of the different perspectives here, here and here.

The second speaker was Sheila Martin, Director of the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies at Portland State University. Her presentation emphasized the importance of maintaining strong relationships between the rural growers of our food and the urban consumers. Keeping our connections strong is vital to preserving our food networks for generations to come.

We had our choice of workshops to attend throughout the day:

In “Innovative Ideas for Marketing Local Products in an Economic Downturn,” we heard how Sun Gold Farm is exponentially growing its business and securing its future through the sale Community Supported Agriculture shares. We heard from David Barber of Three Square Grill and Picklopolis about the importance of making personal contact with local buyers to introduce new products, and Piper Davis from Grand Central Baking shared some of their strategies for cutting costs while maintaining quality. The question of whether farms need to maintain a website came up, and the value of having one was discussed. Simply offering contact information and a few photos can go a long way towards putting a face on the farmer.

In “Meat Inspection Logistics,” the discussion focused on the option of creating a state inspection program in Oregon. The idea is to speed the flow of meat from farm to plate, but there are still lots of hurdles to overcome.

“Buying and Selling Direct” covered the dos and don’ts of interacting with food suppliers and buyers.

“The Future of Food: Supporting the Next Generation of Farmers and Chefs” is at the root of establishing a sustainable food system.

One of the highlights of this event has always been the potluck lunch. Farmers and producers attending the event are paired up with registered chefs, playing perfectly into the “connection” theme. It’s been my responsibility to connect the donated food with the volunteer chefs, and to develop a menu based on these pairings. Each year, the lunch gets even better, and this year was no exception: Rich Indian Spiced Lamb, Kale and Garbanzo Bean Stew was the result of partnering Upper Dry Creek Ranch, Truitt Brothers and Organically Grown Company with New Seasons Market chefs; Sweet Briar Farms whipped up some Pulled Pork and Coleslaw; Prairie Creek Farms teamed with the Institute for Culinary Awakening to create a colorful Good Earth Medley of vegetables; and Sweet Oregon Mint provided mint tea as well as the mint we used in our New Seasons Market Mint Chocolate Brownies. This is just a tiny sampling of the bounty of dishes that were available, all made possible through donated food and time from the participants.

It was amazing to hear about some of the innovations that the people involved in our local food economy are implementing. One group is establishing a Community Supported Kitchen, similar to a CSA share, but with prepared foods, all in the style of Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions. To wrap up the day, everyone was invited to visit the Tasting Pavilion, where locally grown foods, both fresh and preserved, were available for sampling. At the same time, a documentary called Ingredients was screened. Check out a clip from it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF05b7MbR7s

What I took away is an affirmation of how vital these relationships are. We know that the farmer is invested in the success of our business, as we are in his. When I see these connections being made, I know that the ranchers, farmers, chefs and artisans aren’t just buying and selling. They’re cinching up the ties that bind our regional food economy together, and they’re ensuring that the rich agricultural land that surrounds this urban area will be here for future generations to farm. By educating ourselves and our community about the issues surrounding sustainability in our local food system, the culinary community can be a catalyst for positive change. With this knowledge, we can help to create markets for good food and ultimately help preserve local farming, ranching and fishing communities.

Our food system can only become stronger through the sharing of ideas, and we’d love to hear yours. Let us know your thoughts on how we can establish a sustainable food system that will ensure plenty of agricultural land and fresh food for generations to come.

Response to: "Death on a Factory Farm"

2009-03-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

By Alan Hummel
New Seasons Market Meat & Seafood Merchandiser

Some of you may have seen or read about HBO’s new documentary called Death on a Factory Far m. In this film, there were many scenes depicting the unhealthy, inhumane conditions that most hogs live in prior to processing. It’s heartbreaking because it doesn’t have to be this way. Our current system of industrial farming is not sustainable and each of us can do our part to fix it by voting with our dollars. Every time we purchase bacon or pork chops that were produced in a sustainable manner we send a strong message to the people who are responsible for raising the animals. Our cash is a commodity crop and we can influence the way our food is grown by spending it on sustainably produced products.

So what do we mean when we say “sustainably raised pork”? We mean that first and foremost, we know where and how our hogs are raised. We’ve actually been to the farm to see for ourselves, and not only do we know the farmers, but we’ve enjoyed dinner together, watched their kids grow up, and they’ve become like family to us.

Our Pacific Village Pork is raised on two Northwest farms by Greg Rieben and Paul Klingeman. Greg and Paul raise their hogs without antibiotics and on a strictly vegetarian diet on farms in Banks, Oregon, and Ephrata, Washington. They are hands-on hog farmers, and they take a lot of pride in their level of involvement with the animals on their farms. They know everything about how their pork is produced, from the first days of the piglets’ lives to the final delivery to our stores. Each is actively involved in organizations overseeing the hog farming industry, including the Oregon Pork Producers Association, which educates consumers about the industry and provides support for small pork farmers throughout the state, and the Oregon Farm Bureau.

In large-scale factory farm operations, sows are routinely confined in gestation and farrowing crates, which are narrow cages that allow just enough room for the sow to stand up and lie down, but no space to turn around. Our Pacific Village hog farmers don’t use farrowing crates, opting instead for roomy pens that give the mother pig plenty of space to move around and a safe warm place for the piglets.

We’re always looking for ways to help our farmers improve their operations, and we’re willing to pitch in and get our hands dirty in support of our hog farmers’ fantastic stewardship of the animals and the land. Recently, our Meat Department Managers teamed up to help raise a hoop structure for the Rieben’s on their farm in Banks. This structure will be able to house more hogs in humane, sustainable way, and you can take a look at the hoop-raising and finished structure in this video.

These small, local hog operations are far removed from the unsanitary, inhumane conditions of factory farms that have been spotlighted in the media. Agricultural animals are not subject to the same anti-cruelty laws as your family’s pet dog, or even the raccoon that lives in your tree, so it’s up to individual farmers to make ethical choices in raising their animals. As a result, there are enormous hog operations nationwide that abuse this lack of animal rights protection.

Given the choice, it just makes sense to support farmers like Greg and Paul who provide us with our Pacific Village meats. These Home Grown hog ranching families are committed to delivering natural, antibiotic free, vegetarian-fed pork to New Seasons Market customers, and we’re truly invested in their success. Plus, when you choose a Pacific Village product, a portion of your purchase goes directly back to support our community’s farms through grants to area farmers’ markets.

And you don’t have to take our word for it. Food Alliance, a third-party sustainable agriculture certifier, has worked closely with our hog farmers on implementing sustainable farming practices. You can find a detailed list of the requirements for certification, from food safety to humane animal care, at http://www.foodalliance.org/.

Let us know if you have any thoughts or questions and maybe you might even want to share your favorite bacon recipe with us!

Here are two other thought provoking articles by New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Nicholas D. Kristof: "Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health" and "Pathogens in Our Pork".

What’s the Story with Our Bulk Peanut Butter Recall?

2009-02-19T16:39:00.000-08:00

Well, let me first say that this is the most broad-sweeping food recall I have ever experienced in my 20-plus years in the food business. In total we have removed more than 135 different recalled products from our shelves. The most important priority for us is to protect the health of our customers and staff, and we take that responsibility very seriously. The minute we are alerted by the FDA of a product recall we send instructions to our stores to remove and destroy the affected product. We then post information about the recalled product on our website and create signs to post on the store shelves.

We have received a few questions from customers asking why we did not issue a press release for the recalled self-serve peanut butter. The answer is that the FDA does not require (or even suggest) that retailers issue press releases for recalled products because they require the manufacturer to issue this press release and GloryBee Foods did indeed do that for the peanuts in question.

As this whole peanut-salmonella debacle has been unfolding, the FDA has changed their position on bulk peanut butter. Initially, because we were not considered to be a manufacturer, we were not required to issue a press release for the recalled peanuts. Ten days after we received the initial recall for the bulk peanuts, the FDA revised their position and determined that because peanuts are ground into peanut butter in the store, that constitutes manufacturing. So on February 12 they asked us to issue a press release, and we did immediately.

To further clarify, The Oregonian posted an article on their website this morning regarding our bulk peanut butter recall. The article originally stated that there was a 10 day lag time between us removing the product from our shelves and issuing a press release for the recalled product. That is because the manufacturer recall on the product was in place already.

Lynne Terry of The Oregonian has updated the article and clarified that we have been in full compliance with the FDA through this entire process. You can find the article here.

The chronological facts of the bulk peanut recall are as follows:

On February 2, 2009 we received a recall notice from the FDA for the bulk peanuts that we purchase from GloryBee for our self serve grinders. We removed all peanuts from GloryBee immediately upon receiving notice and posted customer signage and posted information on our website. As a part of our compliance with the FDA, we were not told to issue a press release for this product at that time.

We sanitized our self serve grinders twice and purchased new bulk peanuts from a source not implicated in the FDA recall.

On February 12, 2009 the FDA realized that there were retailers involved in the manufacturing of the peanut butter and as a result notified us and other retailers to issue a press release letting our customers know about the Feb 2nd recall for the GloryBee bulk peanuts. We complied immediately and issued the FDA approved press release within hours of the notification on February 12, 2009, and received confirmation from the AP newswire service that the release had been sent successfully.

The FDA failed to post our recall notice over their “recall alerts” system until last night just after midnight, which is why news organizations are posting information about it today.

I assure you, we’ve been on top of each and every peanut-related recall that’s affected products in our stores, and we’ve posted information both in our stores and on our website within minutes of notification. The safety of the food we sell is our absolute top priority, and recalls are always treated with the highest level of attention and sense of urgency. In fact, the FDA has inspected our stores for compliance with regard to recall procedures and not only did they commend us for our 100% compliance, they commented that “we over-communicated with our staff and customers.” We think it’s nearly impossible to over-communicate when it comes to the health and safety of our customers and staff, and we will continue to be vigilant when it comes to your health.

For the latest information on recalls of products sold at New Seasons Market, please check our website’s recall listings here and visit the FDA’s recall page for full information regarding all recalls.

Thanks for reading.

We're Finally Getting Back To Minding Our Own (Local) Business

2009-01-16T11:22:00.000-08:00

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm always so impressed by the power of a united community. Because of all of the voices that chimed in from the Portland area and from all over the country, we've been able to bring the issue with Whole Foods to a resolution that works for us.

As you probably know, we've never taken a position on the dispute that Whole Foods has with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about their takeover of Wild Oats. We tried really hard to stay out of the crossfire of this fight, because it really has nothing to do with us. Obviously, we wish we weren't being forced to give any of our internal financial records to one of our competitors, but we're pleased that a compromise was reached. As part of the settlement, I promised not to disclose the actual terms of the agreement, but I can tell you that there is a big difference between what the original subpoena demanded and what we're going to actually turn over.

Thanks again for your help in protecting the future of New Seasons Market. We're excited about getting back to minding our own (local) business.

We're Just Trying To Mind Our Own (Local) Business. Updated Monday 1/12

2009-01-12T16:51:00.000-08:00

We just heard that Whole Foods Market is planning to have a press conference tomorrow to announce that their CEO, John Mackey, has sent letters to grocers throughout the country explaining why he wants them to turn over their internal private documents to the Whole Foods lawyers. We assume that Whole Foods is taking this step because (as we last heard) only about half of the 94 grocery companies that were subpoenaed had responded to Whole Foods and many of those who did respond only turned over partial and incomplete records. We’re also aware that, in addition to us, one other company has taken legal action to try and stop the Whole Food's subpoena.

We hope that Whole Foods will be announcing a new and more reasonable proposal about the amount and type of information they are requiring and the protections they are offering regarding confidentiality. We’re certainly willing to cooperate with reasonable requests, but unfortunately what Whole Foods has officially demanded so far just isn’t reasonable. They have tried to force us to give them information that isn’t necessary for their case and which could harm us competitively. The so called "protective order" they've offered doesn't come close to providing real security for us. If you’d like to have a better understanding of how we ended up in the crossfire of this legal dispute and how it has affected New Seasons Market, you can take a look at this blog that I posted last month.

We’ve been in negotiations with the Whole Foods attorneys for the last three weeks in an attempt to find a solution to this problem. We promised to keep the details of our conversations confidential, but I can tell you that we’re hopeful that the proposal that Whole Foods makes tomorrow will be similar to some of the constructive ideas that have already been discussed and will give us a fair way to resolve this issue.

We’ll keep you updated as we learn more.

It's Getting Harder to Mind Our Own (Local) Business. Updated Monday Evening 12/29

2008-12-29T19:44:00.000-08:00

Monday Evening 12/29 Update is at the end of this post.

On Wednesday we heard from our attorneys that the Federal Trade Commission ruled that we have to turn our confidential internal financial, marketing and planning information over to Whole Foods Market. Here’s a link to the ruling. We disagree with and are disappointed in this decision. We’re huddling with the lawyers to figure out what our next step is going to be. It looks like we're going to appeal but I’ll get back to you once we have a clear direction. This isn’t over yet.

In the meantime, if you’re wondering why one of our competitors is demanding access to our private information, you can read about the details on this link.

Also, the Oregonian has written about this once more. Here's a link to the story in Friday's paper. I have a few comments to make on some of the information in the story.

I'm glad that Laura Gunderson, the reporter, pointed out that only 50 of the 93 companies that Whole Foods issued the subpoenas to have responded, even though the deadline is long past. It's comforting to know that we're not the only company saying "no" to these unreasonable demands.

And we appreciate that the FTC judge said "no" to Whole Foods really over the top demand that we should be forced to search through the email accounts and computer files of every New Seasons Market staff member who worked on a computer anytime in the last three years. That would have been hundreds of people.

Having said that, I can only shake my head at the judge's position that our private files will somehow be protected. The reason I'm doubtful is because this same promise was made in in this same case in 2007 and what really happened was quite different. First of all, one of Whole Foods lawyers, who is actually an employee of their company and who is on their “Leadership Team”, was allowed to see "confidential" information that was submitted. Second, the FTC accidentally posted information that was marked "confidential" on their web site. Those two incidents have contributed to my lack of confidence in the process.

Thanks again to the hundreds of people in Portland (and actually all over the country) who have offered us their support.

Update on Monday Evening 12/29
As many of you know, today was the deadline that the FTC set for us to submit our internal documents to Whole Foods. Lots of people have asked what happened with that. I can tell you that we have not turned over any information, but our lawyers have told me to stop discussing the other aspects of this case for the time being. I’ll get back to you with more details as soon as I can. Thanks again for all of your interest and well wishes.

We're Still Just Trying To Mind Our Own (Local) Business. Updated Monday 12-15

2008-12-15T11:54:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest on our ongoing legal issue with Whole Foods. Remember, the crazy thing about this is that it has nothing to do with New Seasons Market. It's about Whole Foods defending their takeover of Wild Oats. We're not in any way a party to the lawsuit and don't have an opinion one way or the other about how it should be resolved.

As you probably remember, we had filed a “motion to quash” with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It asked that we not be required to turn over our private internal records to Whole Foods. (Here’s the link to my original blog post that explains the situation in detail.) Whole Foods then filed a response to our motion, attempting to justify why we should let them have our files. Here’s the link to the Whole Foods response.

Unfortunately, the tone in Whole Foods legal filing is quite different than the soothing words they’ve been posting on blogs and editorial pages around Portland and the rest of the country.

I’ll give you a couple of examples.

On the blogs they compliment us saying stuff like, “We know that New Seasons and many other fine natural foods stores are serving their customers well . . .” But, in the court filing they say we are, “smearing Whole Foods”.

On the blogs Whole Foods acknowledges the difficult situation they're putting us in and they say, "I know our subpoena represents a major cost in time and money for the New Seasons team. From our own direct experience, I know what it takes to provide this information, and I assure you we do not take the impact of this on New Seasons lightly.” But, in the court filing they continue to insist on access to our records and they say, “[the] burden to New Seasons would at most be slight” and “Confidentiality concerns raised by New Seasons are equally contrived”.

It’s not looking to me like Whole Foods is about to offer any kind of reasonable compromise soon.

Of course, the legal system being what it is, our attorneys have filed a response to the Whole Foods response. As usual, the lawyers are definitely making out! Here are the two links to the new motion our lawyers filed: Non- Party New Seasons Market Inc.'s. Motion for Leave to File Reply and Declaration of Robert Newell.

We expect a ruling from the FTC sometime soon and when we have it we’ll post it. In the meantime, I hope you’re finding the time to get outside and enjoy this amazing weather.

We're Just Trying To Mind Our Own (Local) Business--Updated Sunday December 7th

2008-12-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

The Oregonian has published their third piece in the last five days about Whole Foods Market’s demands for our internal emails, weekly sales data and marketing and growth plans. Here’s the link to it and here’s the link to the editorial that ran on Thursday and the story that ran on Wednesday.

We're very encouraged by the incredible amount of interest in this situation. We’ve heard from media outlets from all over the country and our blog continues to get lots of comments (although to be honest, in the last couple of days, it kind of looks like the same person is posting there over and over again).

Just to review the situation—Whole Foods Market is in a dispute with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about their takeover of Wild Oats. As it turns out, because of this dispute, Whole Foods has an opportunity to try and force us to give them copies of some of our most confidential financial records and strategic plans. We think there are lots of other ways they can make their case with the FTC without putting us at such a big risk. Want more information? Here’s the link to my original blog explaining the situation in detail.

There are a few things I’d like to comment about in today’s Oregonian story.

Whole Foods continues to insist that the documents they are demanding from us will be safe and that only their “outside lawyers” will see them. This is exactly same promise that was made last time files were subpoenaed in this case. Unfortunately, in the middle of that round, Whole Foods filed an amended motion to allow their “inside lawyer” to see the confidential information. They claimed that even though this “inside lawyer” was an employee of Whole Foods and was on their “Leadership Team”, it was okay for her to see everyone else’s private data because she wasn’t engaged in “competitive decision making”. Obviously, we’re very worried that might happen again.

Whole Foods also doesn’t seem to want to talk about the actions and the statements of some of their corporate executives which have led us and so many others to be concerned. If they hadn’t said stuff like, “…[m]y goal is simple – I want to crush them and am willing to spend a lot of money in the process.” and “...elimination of a competitor in the marketplace, competition for sites, competition for acquisitions, and operational economies of scale. We become the Microsoft of the natural foods industry.” and if their CEO John Mackey had not been caught posting derogatory information online about Wild Oats, using a made up screen name, we might not be quite as worried about what they planned to do with our private internal files.

The Oregonian mentions that Whole Foods is willing to make some “tweaks” to please us. That’s an accurate statement. Tweaks they are. Whole Foods is still demanding almost everything and is still insisting on the files we’re most concerned about.

The article states that we’re the only company looking to legally avoid the subpoenas. We have some new information about that. As of last Friday, only 50 of the 93 companies that have been subpoenaed have responded. The subpoena we got from Whole Foods demanded that we turn over all of our files to them on November 4th—over a month ago. I’m assuming that all the other companies had the same deadline. That means that almost half of the companies subpoenaed have not complied yet. I know for sure that some other grocers are waiting to see what happens with us before they decide what to do.

I’ve stated repeatedly, to the FTC and the media and Whole Foods that I think it’s silly to imagine, even for a second, that Whole Foods has some kind of monopoly on selling natural and organic foods in the Portland area. Having said that, I certainly am not an expert on the other 28 cities that are involved in this and I don’t have an opinion one way or the other about what should happen there.

Update on "We're Just Trying To Mind Our Own (Local) Business." The Oregonian Weighs In.

2008-12-03T17:12:00.001-08:00

The Oregonian has weighed in with their perspective about Whole Foods Market subpoenaing copies of some of our most confidential financial records, including our strategic plans, our marketing plans and our studies about where we are considering opening new stores. Here's the Oregonian story from this morning's paper, New Seasons fights chain's subpoena and here's the editorial board's take on the situation, Special on chutzpah, Aisle Three.

Looks like there's a problem with the link to the Oregonian editorial right now. Here's a copied and pasted version:

Special on chutzpah, Aisle Three

by The Oregonian Editorial Board
Wednesday December 03, 2008, 4:11 PM

Whole Foods, already under fire for its anticompetitive conduct, pushes its luck
There's silly and there's federal government silly, as New Seasons Market is finding out.

The privately owned, Portland-based chain of natural and healthy grocery food stores has been asked, and may be ordered, to provide a raft of confidential information to a much larger competitor, Whole Foods Inc. Information such as "all documents discussing competition with Whole Foods or Wild Oats," "all market studies relating to competition," "all documents relating to the sales of natural or organic products in your stores," and, most audaciously, "for each store provide the total weekly sales for each week since Jan. 1, 2006." That's what Whole Foods' lawyers say they want from New Seasons.

And what has New Seasons done to call down such burdensome demands for disclosure of its private, proprietary information? Its crime is running a successful chain of grocery stores in the niche that Whole Foods has tried to dominate, partly by its takeover of Wild Oats, the chain that has since disappeared from the Portland area.

In the spring of 2007, the Federal Trade Commission weighed in with objections to the planned merger, arguing convincingly that it would reduce competition and thus, raise prices to consumers. The agency showed that Whole Foods had secretly plotted to crush Wild Oats and dominate the industry, specifically citing its concerns about price competition in Portland. (At roughly the same time, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey was discovered to have been posting critical comments about Wild Oats on public blogs under a pseudonym.)

Despite the continuing regulatory opposition, as you may have noticed, the merger proceeded. After taking control of Wild Oats, Whole Foods quickly shut down three of the newly acquired stores in the Portland area and renamed the rest.New Seasons stayed out of all that messiness. CEO Brian Rohter said the chain never expressed any opinion about the merger and obviously, wasn't a party to it.

Yet now, as the rather pointless dispute between the FTC and Whole Foods grinds on, New Seasons is being asked to supply its primary competitor with a raft of private information that would never otherwise be available for outside scrutiny. And Rohter says his lawyers tell him he may actually be forced to comply with the request, although New Seasons has filed its objection to doing so.

Nothing about Whole Foods' behavior so far suggests that this is a benign request for onformation. Rather, it is a nakedly anticompetitive maneuver intended to hamstring its strongest rival in the Portland area.

The FTC is entitled to proceed with its dispute with Whole Foods, and in the end, may improve competition in the market by doing so. But it shouldn't reward Whole Foods' history of deceptive conduct by granting it the key to its competitors' vault of secrets.

Quash the Whole Foods subpoena. Let the company compete in the marketplace, not in a Washington, D.C., hearing room.

If you don't know what we're talking about and want to learn more, take a look at the blog posting below this one, We're Just Trying To Mind Our Own (Local) Business. There's lots and lots of info (and many opinions) there.

We're Just Trying To Mind Our Own (Local) Business

2008-12-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

By Brian Rohter

You may have heard that New Seasons Market has found ourselves caught in the crossfire of an ongoing legal dispute between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Whole Foods Market. The disagreement has to do with whether or not the Whole Foods merger with Wild Oats should be “allowed to proceed”. Yes, we know that seems like a crazy thing to be fighting about since all the Wild Oats stores that were around here have already been closed or turned into Whole Foods stores, but neither the federal government or Whole Foods asked us for our opinion about that.

You also are probably trying to figure out what this could possibly have to do with us. That’s a great question. Since we’ve been minding our own (local) business and have never expressed an opinion one way or the other about this merger, we were wondering the same thing.

As it turns out, because of their legal dispute with the FTC, Whole Foods has an opportunity to try and force us to give them copies of some of our most confidential financial records – for instance what our sales are, week by week, at each of our stores. They’ve also demanded all of our files that detail our strategic plans, all of our marketing plans and all of our studies about where we are considering opening new stores. You can see the entire subpoena here, and below is a partial list of what they’re trying to get (quoted directly from the subpoena):

3. All documents relating to Whole Food’s acquisition of Wild Oats, including documents discussing the effect of the merger on you.

4. All documents discussing competition with Whole Foods or Wild Oats, including responses by you to a new Whole Foods or Wild Oats store and responses by you to prices, product selection, quality, or services at Whole Foods or Wild Oats stores.

5. All market studies, strategic plans or competition analyses relating to competition in each Geographic Area, including documents discussing market shares.

6. All market studies, strategic plans or competition analyses relating to the sale of natural and organic products, including the sale of natural and organic products in your stores.

7. All documents relating to your plans to increase the shelf space at your stores allocated to natural and organic products, the number of natural and organic products sold in your stores, or the sales of natural or organic products in your stores.

8. All documents discussing your plans to renovate or improve your stores to sell additional natural and organic products or to open stores emphasizing natural and organic products.

9. Provide documents sufficient to show, or in the alternative submit a spread sheet showing: (a) the store name and address of each of your stores separately in each Geographic Area; and (b) for each store provide the total weekly sales for each week since January 1, 2006 to the current date.

I have to believe that any reasonable person would agree that it’s really over the top for Whole Foods to be asking for this information, especially since we have nothing to do with their lawsuit. It takes away the level playing field, creates an unnecessary risk for our business and has the potential to have a negative impact on our network of local growers, ranchers and suppliers. It also could permanently damage the fragile regional food system that we’ve been working to create and, in the end, could reduce options for Portlanders who choose to shop at locally owned stores.

New Seasons Market is a small, locally owned company that competes against large, multi-national chains including Whole Foods. Whole Foods has about 270 stores in cities all over North America and in England. We have 9 stores in the Portland area. Allowing Whole Foods to look through all of our private information about how we operate and what our plans are for the future unfairly adds to their already large size and financial advantage. We’ve been able to build a successful local business being David against their Goliath, and we’re happy to keep doing that, but we do object to having one hand tied behind our back.

Whole Foods says that we should give our information to their lawyers and they claim the lawyers won’t let anyone else in the organization see them. That’s like trusting the fox to guard the henhouse – and we don’t have any faith it’s going to work like that.

I’m sorry to say this, but some of the people at Whole Foods have a history of less than stellar behavior when it comes to competing fairly. There are two obvious examples of this. First, last year, their CEO John Mackey was caught posting derogatory information online about Wild Oats, using a made up screen name. Here’s a New York Times story about that.

Second, during the first round of this law suit last year, the FTC released a bunch of e-mails that some Whole Foods executives had sent over the previous few years. You can find the entire (really lengthy) FTC report here, but just to give you a flavor of it, below are a few excerpts of Whole Foods’ comments in regards to Wild Oats:

“Wild Oats needs to be removed from the playing field...”

“…[m]y goal is simple – I want to crush them and am willing to spend a lot of money in the process.”

“...elimination of a competitor in the marketplace, competition for sites, competition for acquisitions, and operational economies of scale. We become the Microsoft of the natural foods industry.”

Yikes!

This case has been going on for about 18 months. This is the second time Whole Foods has tried to get access to our records. Last year they also filed a motion to try and get our financial records turned over to them; not just to their “outside” lawyers, but to executives who are on the Whole Foods payroll and work in the Whole Foods corporate offices in Austin, Texas. What possible reason do we have to believe they won’t just try and do that again?

When I received this subpoena my immediate reaction was disbelief. I was confident there was no way our legal system would force us to give our private business records to one of our competitors. It looks like I may have been wrong about that. We’re fighting this (and running up whopping legal bills in the process) and here's a copy of the motion we filed with the Federal Trade Commission. Amazingly, our lawyers tell us that there’s a chance we’ll lose the case and will be required to turn over the information.

Of course I asked what would happen if we refused. The answer was that we could be held in contempt of court and subject to large fines or even jail time. In case anyone is planning on visiting me there, I really love doing the daily Oregonian crossword and also M&M Peanuts. (My wife Eileen doesn’t think this is very funny.)

We’ll keep you posted on this as the situation evolves.

What's the Deal With Organic Fertilizer?

2008-11-20T18:10:00.000-08:00

By Jeff Fairchild, Director of Produce for New Seasons Market

You may have seen the article in Monday's Oregonian about the California fertilizer supplier who was selling non-organic fertilizer and calling it organic (“Organic Farms Got Spiked Fertilizer”). Not only did the supplier participate in indefensibly unethical behavior, but the article indicates that there was a lag time of over two and a half years between the California Department of Food and Agriculture first learning of the issue and the time the product was finally removed from the market.

We were troubled to learn that non-organic fertilizer was used on supposedly organic produce, and I imagine that all of the farmers affected were very disturbed by the news. Organic farmers spend a lot of time and money to receive their certification, and for a fertilizer supplier to misrepresent their product is potentially devastating to organic farmers, both small and large, who could face huge penalties or even loss of their certification.

Even more distressing to us is the slow response time by the investigating agency. What seemed like a simple, open-and-shut case was drawn out over an inexcusably long period of time. While there are two sides to every story, I just can’t think of a good reason for that.

Our growing partners were as surprised and dismayed as we were to learn of this. Our Home Grown farmers are committed to growing organic produce for all the right reasons. They share the goal of not only producing abundant, fantastic produce, but also of being sustainable stewards of their land through biological pest control, crop rotation and soil balancing. Organic farming is far more than a business choice for them--it's a serious environmental commitment. Nobody takes it lightly when their livelihood and credibility are jeopardized by the dishonesty of a vendor.

Earthbound Farm, who was named in the article, has taken steps to avoid being defrauded in the future. They've issued a statement that says, "To protect the organic integrity of our crops and our farms from being victimized again, we have instituted a stringent organic verification process for all liquid fertilizers. Any of our farmers using any kind of liquid fertilizer must subject it to nitrogen testing and process validation by an independent, third-party lab to ensure that any product marketed as organic is legitimately organic." Of course, most smaller farms don’t have the resources to conduct their own tests of the fertilizers that they purchase, and have to rely on oversight by the certifying agencies. To their credit, certifying agencies across the country are ramping up their inspections of fertilizer producers, and some are asking that the fertilizers themselves be tested and approved by an outside party.

While this incident is discouraging, I don't think that we should lose faith in organic produce as a whole. We have to trust that third-party certifiers like Oregon Tilth are doing their jobs well, and preventing this from being a widespread problem. We're lucky to have so many fantastic local resources for organic produce, and our buyers have open, honest relationships with most of the farms that provide New Seasons Market's fruits and vegetables. We partner with Organically Grown Company (OGC), who is a certified organic handler with some of the most stringent standards in the country. We have complete trust in the auditing and record-keeping system that they have in place, as well as their 25 years of experience handling organic produce.

We know that this issue is as important to our growing partners as it is to our customers and to us, and we’ll be keeping an eye on the story with the hopes that this bad situation will lead to even better controls on the quality of the food we’re eating.

How Do the Changes in the Recycling Market Affect You?

2008-11-18T15:39:00.000-08:00

By Heather Schmidt

Yesterday morning, like many of you, I read the Oregonian article about the plummeting recycling markets. Even though recycling is at record levels and a strong infrastructure is in place in Portland, the demand for the materials has fallen surprisingly quickly. The lack of demand for recycled material is tied to the economic downturn affecting factories and manufacturing. At New Seasons Market, we recycle large quantities of various recyclables, from lower grade plastics to cardboard and metal. Most of the recycling collection is from our internal operations, but we also recycle some rigid plastics, plastic bags, and paper bags for our customers.

What does this mean for all of us? We don’t know for sure what will come, but recycling markets have fluctuated many times in the past. There are concerns that, with the current market, recycling will be land filled. Bruce Walker, Solid Waste and Recycling Manager who oversees the residential and commercial recycling program, expressed confidence that land filling will not become necessary (nor is it legal to landfill it), particularly for more viable recyclables. He pointed out that it is more expensive to landfill waste than it is to recycle it at lower market prices.

For now, the material recycling facilities that process recyclables for New Seasons Market are still able to take it. Some of the recyclables are being sold to available markets, some are being processed on site, and others, like niche plastics such as clamshells, are being stockpiled. If the market becomes so unstable that we are no longer confident that our waste is being recycled, we will let our customers know immediately and stop collecting it.

On Thursday, I plan to attend the Association of Oregon Recyclers’ forum in Salem to discuss the recycling market crisis. I will keep you updated as we find out more.

Paper, Plastic or Neither, Revisited

2008-09-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

By Brian Rohter

Last night I participated in a panel discussion, sponsored by Recycling Advocates, about how our community should deal with the use of “single use” grocery bags. City Commissioner Sam Adams, David Allaway, a waste prevention specialist for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and Tom Watson, a King County Washington recycling specialist were the other presenters.

Commissioner Adams was part of the conversation because he is a leading advocate for coming up with a plan to reduce the amount of bags that go into our waste stream (definitely a worthy goal). His office had started an effort to limit the use of bags last year and I blogged about it at that time. The momentum for this project slowed down during election season, but Commissioner Adams recently gave it a major push. In a nutshell, the proposal is to charge a fee for any bags you get the checkstands of grocery, drug or convenience stores. The Oregonian did a pretty comprehensive job describing the situation. "Which is best: Paper or plastic?"

David Allaway, from DEQ, explained the science behind the issue. While some of it was pretty wonky, one statement that I found particularly interesting was, that if we eliminated virtually every single plastic bag in Oregon, we would only reduce our greenhouse emissions by one tenth of one percent (.1%).

Tom Watson, from Seattle, talked about what had been going on up there and how the plastics industry trade groups had forced the issue about charging fees for paper and plastic bags to be put to a ballot. He said that three of the issues that had been discussed widely in Seattle were: There are more important environmental issues, so why is the city focusing on this? Why limit this to just grocery stores as opposed to department stores and others who use bags? And what about the people who reuse bags for garbage can liners and pet clean up, etc.? I would have been interested in hearing what the answers to these concerns were.

Commissioner Adams explained his reasoning behind the proposal and made it really clear that he was still in the information gathering phase and was committed to reaching out to all the stakeholders to create a win for our community as a whole. The Oregonian has a good summary of last nights meeting online already. "Is Portland ready to eliminate one-time-use grocery bags?"

I explained that even though the paper bags are way more expensive (11 cents each compared to about 3 cents each for plastic), New Seasons Market has never used the plastic bags because, we felt that the paper bags were clearly a better environmental choice. We’ve also done our best to reduce consumption by offering our customers an incentive to reuse paper bags and by offering plastic bag recycling stations.

I would support a ban on the plastic bags, as it seems like anything we can do to reduce the use of petroleum products is really important. However, I’m not ready to support a fee for people who want (or think they need) to use paper bags. I know that some folks think that it would be easy for people to avoid paying the fee (Just bring a reusable bag with you when you shop!), but I’m not convinced that it’s quite that simple. For the past year we’ve been trying hard to figure out how to remind our shoppers to bring their bags back with them and we’ve had pretty good progress. During 2007, in about 17% of our transactions, our customers reused their own bags. So far, during 2008, that percentage has jumped to about 27%. Even though we’re pleased with this improvement, we obviously still have a long way to go.

My suggestion is that we go ahead and prohibit the use of the plastic bags as Phase 1 and then assess the situation before we start Phase 2. This would have a couple of advantages; first it would give the folks in Portland a chance to adapt to the new way of doing things and second, it would give us an opportunity to learn from some of the other cities (like Seattle and San Francisco) who are considering similar policies. It seems like any time a change like this occurs, there are unintended consequences and I’d rather have a better understanding of what some of those lessons are before we try this experiment on 750,000 people.

I think our most important goal should be to do this right—to do a really good job on the planning and the implementation. If we get it right, it will be easier to “export” it to the rest of the state and, maybe like our bottle bill, to other parts of the country.

I’m definitely interested in what you are thinking about this and would be excited to see you chime in. Thanks to Commissioner Adams and Recycling Advocates for putting on the event. It was really worthwhile.

Brian Responds to Today's Oregonian Editorial

2008-06-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

By Brian Rohter

I definitely appreciate and am thankful for the kind words written about me in the editorial in today's Oregonian --- but --- I do need to point something out. Our conversations with the United Farm Workers have always been friendly, positive and focused on solutions. I've considered them useful and informative.

I've also read elsewhere that the United Farms Workers have showed up "unannounced" or have "barged in" to our offices. That’s just not accurate. We've traded phone calls or e-mails, set a time that worked for everyone and then sat down and visited, just like we have many other times with folks who are committed to improving our regional food system.

Most of all I'm pleased that this issue is getting so much needed attention because it's really essential that we get it resolved in a fair manner.

Let’s Keep This Conversation Going!

2008-06-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

By Brian Rohter

Like many of you I picked up this morning's Oregonian and read the front page story about how Country Natural Beef, the Eastern Oregon co-op of ranch families that has been our long time supplier of natural, locally grown beef, is being negatively impacted by the dispute between the United Farm Workers and Beef Northwest. Beef Northwest is the Oregon feedlot for Country Natural Beef.

There are a few things in that story that I'd like to comment on. First of all, New Seasons Market definitely hasn't taken sides. We have a lot of respect for both the United Farm Workers and Beef Northwest and think that, if they will start talking again, they will be able to find a fair solution. One thing that I haven't heard anyone disagree about is that the workers at Beef Northwest should be allowed to decide on their own if they want to be represented by the United Farm Workers. My understanding is that the hold up is about what methods should be used to provide a fair process for that decision to be made.

We also strongly feel that the ranchers at Country Natural Beef shouldn't suffer as a result of this. They are not part of this dispute. The Oregonian says the co-op "has become collateral damage in the fight" and we think that's a tragedy. Their ranches and way of life are at stake as a result of this dispute and that is just wrong. We've been business partners with Country Natural Beef for many, many years and they're a model for how to build a regional food system and bridge the urban rural divide. They supply our shoppers with healthy, sustainably raised beef. Their environmental practices have been third party certified by The Food Alliance. And, the co-op is an economic engine for Oregon agriculture.

I'd also like to emphasize that the United Farm Workers never asked us to stop selling Country Natural Beef. Steve Witte, the organizer from the United Farm Workers that I've talked to, is quoted in the Oregonian as saying, "We never used the b-word. We never asked them to boycott." That's definitely true. In my various communications with Steve, he never suggested that we should stop doing business with the co-op.

Steve did ask us to help with the situation and we definitely have. We've been very proactive about this over the last year. I've personally met with representatives of the United Farm Workers, the Oregon Farm Worker Ministry, Beef Northwest and the ranchers at Country Natural Beef. I went over to Boardman to visit the feedlot at Beef Northwest. We've done our best to facilitate a conversation between the parties. We've been in communication with the other retail stores and restaurants who also buy from Country Natural Beef to see how we, as a group, might be able to help. We've formally requested that Governor Kulongoski use the influence of his office to get the parties to sit down with each other again and we thank him for his leadership on this difficult issue. So, I'm not sure where the statement in today's Oregonian that "we didn't reply to pleas for help from the United Farm Workers" came from, because it definitely isn't accurate.

Please know that I will continue to follow this issue really closely and do what I can to help find a just solution for everyone involved; all the people who work so hard, day after day, to bring this great, locally and sustainably raised food to our community.

If anyone has any suggestions about what else could be done I'd love to hear from you.

Our Food and Farms: Let’s Take a Long-Term View

2008-05-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

By Lisa Sedlar
I’m a pretty happy go lucky kind of person, so it’s somewhat unusual for me to rant (my husband would probably dispute this however, so too would my daughter, friends, boss and well everyone who knows me, but that’s beside the point.) The point is that the time is ripe to rant about the future of our food and farming systems! In the past few weeks I have heard some of the most alarming and short-sighted thinking regarding our food system. One example includes encouraging farmers to stop growing organically because conventional (read: pesticide-laden) crops have a higher yield and are cheaper to grow. Well, first of all organic crops have been proven to yield as much or nearly as much food as their pesticide-laden counterparts.

Secondly, why would we want to go back to dumping chemical pesticides on our food when we are trying to reduce our impact on the earth? The more chemicals we put into our land, the less healthy our land and food and our bodies. On average, the earth is covered in about 3 feet of topsoil – this nutrient-rich dirt sustains most of our food and plays a huge role in supporting life on Earth. If we continue to farm using conventional Big-Ag methods we will deplete our topsoil to the point that it won’t be farmable.

We have to consider future generations when deciding how best to feed our growing population. The natural products company Seventh Generation gets their name from an Iroquois saying that says “In our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations”. It seems like we can’t as a nation think beyond the next seven days, let alone seven generations.

Another short-sighted food proposal I heard of late comes compliments of the U.S. Department of the Interior who recently announced plans to open Alaska’s Bristol Bay—which provides us with the world’s largest salmon run—to drilling for oil and gas. They also have plans to move forward with a two-mile-long open-pit copper and gold mine – the largest in North America. What’s at stake here is 40 percent of our nation's wild domestic salmon catch, and the survival of a region whose ecological diversity is enormous and mostly pristine.

A few weeks ago, I read in the NY Times that Japan and Europe, who up until now have said no to genetically modified crops are now considering lifting the ban on GMOs because of the current shortage of food.

Again, this is incredibly short-sighted thinking. GMO seeds have not been proven to help our food supply, nor have the health effects of Monsanto’s Round-Up Ready seeds been studied long enough to know if they might present any health issues for humans. The problem is that once GMO seeds are in the food supply or once the cloned meat is in the food supply there is no going back.

Buying locally produced and grown foods is definitely the way to go. Not only is local food fresher and better tasting, it also doesn’t have to travel as far and therefore reduces our on dependence on fossil fuels (although this is a complicated issue). The more we support our local farmers the more likely it is that family farms will remain in our communities. Did you know that the average age of the farmer in Oregon is 55 years old? That means that 50% of our farms will change hands over the next 10-15 years. If we don’t actively support local farmers, what will happen to these farms? I for one don’t think we need more strip-malls or condos (Yikes!).

Look, I know that food is more costly now and it’s a hardship for people and families but what will food cost if/when we don’t have local options anymore? It pains me to think that our Oregon blackberries, hazelnuts, dairy-farms, lamb ranches etc., could go away because we didn’t take a long term view of our food and farming systems. In the United States people on average, devote about 9% of their income to food. Compare that to European countries, where the norm is closer to 15% (in Italy it’s almost 25%). Good and healthy food costs more, there’s just no way around it and in the long run it’s going to cost a lot more if our treasured farm resources go away.

You may think that I’m preaching to the converted here, but last year in Oregon we lost 1000 farms, so it’s clear we aren’t doing enough. What can we do about it? We can vote with our dollars and buy local. We can buy from our local farmers markets and co-ops. We can go out to the U-Pick farms this summer. We can __________. You fill in the blank.

We're a "2008 BEST Practices for Sustainability Award" Winner

2008-04-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

This morning we were really honored to be the 2008 City of Portland BEST Award Winner for “BEST Practices for Sustainability” for a large company. “BEST” stands for Businesses for an Environmentally Sustainable Tomorrow. Since 1993, the BEST Awards have been presented annually to Portland area companies demonstrating excellence in business practices that promote economic growth and environmental benefits. I was particularly proud to be able to attend the breakfast with Robby Berg, Kate O’Malley and Nate Kay. They are New Seasons Market staff who provide leadership for the Green Teams in their stores. All of our Green Team members have been our internal champions for increasing our focus on sustainability.

It took a village to create a green dream here in the Portland area. Daring entrepreneurs, consumers willing to vote with their dollars, environmental advocates, and courageous civic leaders have all joined to build a foundation for a new kind of community. Judging by the number of people in attendance at the BEST award breakfast, the seeds of change have been sown for a green revolution city-wide. One of the things that I love about attending the BEST Award Breakfast is that it reminds me that there are thousands of people working to make our city sustainable. Who knew there was such a thing as a green dentist? I didn’t until today. We sure are glad to be part of this village.

Other winners this morning were Full Sail Brewing Company, Hawthorne Auto Clinic (highly recommended—this is where I take my car for service), Mint Dental Works, Yolo Colorhouse, The Civic and The Morrison (for Green Buildings), Laughing Planet Café and Your Backyard Farmer. All of these companies have great stories to tell and are worth checking into.

Another highlight of the morning was a presentation about global warming by Secretary of State Bill Bradbury. What was particularly cool about Bill’s talk was that he has adapted Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” slide show to include local and Northwest examples. Bill is doing this presentation regularly around the state and it is definitely worth seeing if you have the chance.

Heather Schmidt, one of the leaders of the sustainability efforts at our company, put together our application for the BEST awards. I have to admit that even I was taken aback (in a good way) to see a fairly comprehensive list of all of the things that we’re up to. A handful of examples are:

Reclaiming waste heat from our refrigeration systems to heat water in our stores.
Our company wide effort to encourage alternative methods of transportation by our staff, including subsidized Tri-Met passes.
Our leadership in the food composting program. We've been doing this for over five years and our compost represents over 13% of all food waste that is composted in the entire Metro region.
Our Home Grown program which allows us to focus on local, sustainable farmers, ranchers, fishers and manufacturers when stock our stores.
We've created bioswales, a series of planter-like ditches and rain sculptures to divert storm water from the sewers at three of our stores. The bioswales are full of native plants and improve the water quality and livability of our community.

I’m posting the actual application here, with lots more information, so you can see for yourself what your ongoing support has allowed us to do. Thanks for that.

Friday Update on Tuna Testing

2008-03-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

You might recall that several weeks ago we tested all species of tuna that we sell to have a better understanding of their mercury content. The tests showed that both our imported and local tuna had mercury levels higher than deemed safe by Physicians for Social Responsibility (although within the FDA’s acceptable level). We (and most of the local fishing community) were shocked by the results from the local albacore, because other testing has been done on a fairly frequent basis and, while mercury levels in imported tuna have been known to be high, the local albacore has generally been considered safe. We ran a retest on the local albacore and it came back at the same high levels. To play it safe we decided to pull all of our tuna until we had a better grasp of the whole situation. Earlier this week we tested a different lot of local albacore tuna and it came back with mercury levels well within the safe standards. You can follow the whole saga and find links to all of the results in the blog entries below this one.

This morning I received the results from another round of testing from a different sample of albacore tuna from the original lot; a different fish, but from the same catch. I’m happy to tell you that the result is .16 mercury parts per million. This is very different from the outcome of the testing in the original lot and these mercury levels are considered normal and safe. Read the results here. A second sampling, with a second lab, returned results ranging from .20-.27 parts per million. Read the results here.

The other sample was from imported ahi tuna. The ahi had come back at unacceptable mercury levels in its first round of tests also. This time the ahi’s mercury level was at .14 parts per million, which is in the safe range.

Confused? So are we. In my original post about this issue on March 4th, I asked folks to weigh in and help us decide what position we should take in terms of offering this fish for sale; should we pull some or all of it (particularly the imported tuna) because of uncertainty, or should we just share the information that we have and let everyone decide for themselves if they want it?

Based on the feedback that we’ve received and on the wild variance in the test results, we’ve come to the decision to bring all these species back into our stores as soon as possible. We will continue to post the results of the testing that we will be doing on an ongoing basis.

As for me, I don’t eat any meat or poultry so seafood is a big part of my diet. Eileen and I have salmon and tuna for dinner regularly. Going forward we’re going to stay away from the imported tuna and only eat the local albacore. - Brian

Update on tuna testing. Looks good so far!

2008-03-10T17:48:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to report that the third round of testing that we had done on the Oregon albacore tuna has come back and shows mercury levels well within the acceptable levels established by all the various monitoring organizations, including the FDA and Physicians for Social Responsibility. You can take a look at the results here. This tuna is from a different lot than the tuna that we had tested a couple of weeks ago, although it was tested at the same lab. Within the next couple of days we expect to get the results of the other two pending tests and we'll let you know the outcome as soon as we have them. It's our hope that they'll both show that the Oregon albacore will have acceptable mercury levels, that we'll be able to call the high levels in the first lot an anomaly and we'll feel comfortable putting this great product that we've been promoting for so many years back in our seafood cases.

As you might imagine, we've had quite a few interactions with all sorts of folks from the Oregon fishing community in the last week or so, and even though some of the conversations have been somewhat heated, we're feeling really good about the direction that we're all headed. I think we're going to end up with a comprehensive program that helps ensure the safety of the seafood that we're offering to our customers and at the same time helps support our local fisheries.

This afternoon we had a conference call with representatives from Oregon State University, the Oregon Albacore Commission, the Seafood Consumer Center, Pacific Seafood and others. The purpose of our conversation was to brainstorm an on-going, third party testing program that would sample our tuna on an ongoing basis. Our intention is to share the results of these tests with our customers so they will be able to make informed decisions about the seafood they choose to eat. Each of the participants on the call agreed to go back to their organization and to ask their colleagues for suggestions on the most effective way to make this happen. We agreed to regroup later this week and I'll update you on the status then.

By the way, I had a tuna fish sandwich for lunch today--made with Oregon albacore tuna from Local Ocean Seafoods. It was delicious.

Brian Responds to Your Comments About Tuna

2008-03-07T21:58:00.000-08:00

Brian Rohter here. I wanted to respond to some of the comments made about my original blog posting.

First, in regards to the idea that the tuna that we had sampled was actually foreign fish that was labeled as Oregon caught; I’ve personally spoken to Laura Anderson, from Local Ocean Seafoods, who supplied us with this albacore tuna. Laura was able to take the lot number that was on this shipment of tuna and trace it back to the vessel that originally caught the fish. The paperwork associated with the shipment states that the tuna was caught inside the 200 mile limit off the coast of Oregon. Laura also contacted the captain of the vessel, who had a clear recollection of the trip. He also confirmed that the tuna associated with this lot number was West Coast Troll Caught Albacore that was landed in Oregon. We did consider the possibility that somehow there was a mix up at the processing plant and some foreign tuna was put in the wrong box. The owner of the plant told us that, because of the systems they have in place in their facility, this type of mix up is virtually impossible.

Second, in regards to the color of the tuna that was shown on the KOIN piece; you are correct. We had no tuna in our stores on the day that KOIN did their story, so that photo must have been a stock picture of some other tuna.

Third, in regards to the suggestion that we post information about the danger of mercury on our seafood cases; we have been doing that for many years. In this instance, because the test results for all the tuna varieties we sampled came in so high we felt that our obligation to our customer’s health demanded that we take further action.

Fourth, the suggestion that we somehow sought publicity about this issue simply isn’t correct. We read the New York Times story about their testing of tuna in sushi restaurants in New York and we thought the results were alarming. We decided to test our tuna to make sure that we were offering safe food to our customers. As I explained in my first post, we ran two series of tests, partially because we were so surprised at the local albacore results. When the second test came back matching the first, we decided to err on the side of caution and pull the tuna while we investigated further. We put up signs on our seafood cases explaining what had happen. We did not press release our decision or contact any media organizations. Shortly after we did our testing, we were contacted by the Oregonian. We’re not sure what prompted them to do the story, but think maybe they became interested after reading the New York Times sushi story, just like us. The Oregonian asked if we had tested our tuna. We gave them an honest answer, which was yes. They asked if we would share the results with them, and we figured that being completely transparent about the whole situation was the right thing to do and in everyone’s interest, so we gave them what we had. Then KOIN contacted us, probably as a result of the Oregonian story, and we shared our information with them. We didn’t seek out any of this press coverage.

I think New Seasons Market’s support of the local fishing community is second to none. We buy local whenever we can, in some instances even contracting with specific vessels to make sure they have a market for their catch at sustainable prices. The last thing we would want to do would be to hurt our local fishing families and communities.

So, now here’s what’s happening: we’ve taken two samples from that original lot and sent them to two different labs for testing. We’ve also taken two samples from another lot of albacore supplied by Local Ocean Seafoods and sent one of each of those samples to two different labs. We expect the results early next week and we’ll post them as soon as we have them.

Finally, I want to make sure that we’re not losing sight of the big picture here. The health of our children and of future generations is directly linked to the health of our oceans. In addition, the livelihoods of our local fishermen are directly linked the health of our oceans. We hope that all this dialogue will help encourage more people to get serious about taking care of our oceans, our food system and our planet.

The Trouble With Tuna; Balancing Food Safety While Supporting Local Fishers

2008-03-04T22:02:00.000-08:00

By Brian Rohter

Kudos to the Oregonian Food Day and reporter Leslie Cole for the great story in this mornings paper about the complexities involved in trying to eat healthy and sustainably fished or farmed seafood. We definitely agree with Leslie's bottom line, which is "Taking action is easier than you think. We've ... identified a handful of fish you can bring home without guilt or questions. They're healthful, environmentally sound choices . . . ". Here's the link to the whole story: "A good catch".

There are a couple of other pieces of information that I'd like to share. Leslie points out in the article that we recently had some of our fish tested for mercury content at a local independent laboratory. We did do a round of several tests. The results from the first test really shocked us because, although we were prepared to see elevated mercury counts on the tuna, we didn't expect the levels to be as high as they were. We were also really taken aback at the results for the salmon that we tested since we hadn't heard anything at all about mercury problems in wild Alaskan salmon. Read the Feb. 4 results here.

Based on the uncertainty of the results on the first round of testing, we contracted for a second sample. The tuna came back with essentially the same results and the salmon came back at the levels that we expected. We've been told there was an error in the first salmon sampling process. Read the Feb. 18 results here.

We thought long and hard about what action we should take after the high levels of mercury in the tuna were confirmed. Obviously we want to offer all of our customers as many choices as possible and we certainly are committed to promoting Oregon products, like the local albacore. In the end we decided to be cautious and stop selling those varieties for the time being. We will continue to test on a intermittent basis and if something changes we'll be excited to bring them back. I'm interested to know if you think we made the right decision here or whether we should just share the information and let everyone choose for themselves.

We also figured it would be a good idea to take a look at the mercury levels in the canned tuna that we sell and we were pleasantly surprised to see that all of it came back at levels that are deemed acceptable. Read the Feb. 28 results.

Finally, for folks who have a high degree of interest in making sustainable seafood purchases, I want to remind you of our Sustainable Seafood Program, which we launched in 2003. We use a simple green, yellow and red color coding system in our Seafood Departments to help highlight smarter choices for healthier oceans. You can learn more about it here or by picking up the informational brochures in each of our stores.

What's the Story With Country Natural Beef?

2007-11-16T22:06:00.000-08:00

By Brian Rohter

Some of you may have heard about the recent dispute between the United Farm Workers and Beef Northwest Feeders. New Seasons Market is not a party in the dispute. We have a great deal of respect for both the United Farm Workers and Beef Northwest Feeders.

Beef Northwest Feeders provides the gathering lot services for several area cattle ranches including Country Natural Beef, the co-op of Eastern Oregon ranch families who supply our stores with some of the beef we sell. The cattle spend about 90 days at a gathering feed lot where they are fed a vegetarian ration of cooked potatoes, alfalfa and corn. Other cows that are not a part of the Country Natural Beef program come to this lot as well, however Country Natural Beef cows are strictly segregated from other cattle.

If a Country Natural Beef animal needs to receive medication, it is removed from the Country Natural Beef program. John Wilson, the managing partner of Beef Northwest Feeders is also a long time member of Country Natural Beef. We’ve known John for many years and have found him to be an honest and honorable man. The folks at Country Natural Beef (also called Oregon Country Beef) have unequivocally assured us that none of the animals in their care were a part of recent FDA findings associated with Beef Northwest Feeders – please visit the Country Natural Beef website for information about this issue. The United Farms Workers mission is to “provide farm workers and other working people with the inspiration and tools to share in society's bounty.” They were founded in 1962 by Cesar Chavez and are the nation's first successful and largest farm workers union. Over the past 40 years the efforts of the United Farm Workers have made a significant improvement in the lives of many of the families of our nation’s agricultural workers. In regard to employee relations, the United Farm Workers and Beef Northwest Feeders have different perspectives about what is taking place. We have no way of knowing who is right or wrong and expect that, as is usually the case, there are probably some grades of gray in the argument. We are hopeful that these two fine organizations will resolve their differences quickly and fairly. For more information please contact Beef Northwest Feeders or the United Farm Workers.

Why I'm Voting Yes on Measure 49

2007-10-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

By Brian Rohter

I’m voting yes on Measure 49 because It’s a common sense compromise that will help save our local farms and ranches and protect our food security for years to come.

As local grocers we’re constantly in touch with Oregon’s agricultural producers. We’ve heard from most of them, loud and clear, that if Measure 37 goes unchecked we’re in for some real trouble in the not too distant future. That’s why the well respected Oregon Farm Bureau Federation and 15 farm organizations in Oregon have endorsed Measure 49.

Anyone who shops for groceries has seen that as the price of oil has continued to climb, the costs of our basic every day groceries have rapidly increased. One of the reasons is simply the ever growing expense of transporting products from such long distances. If we lose more and more local farm land to development how will we afford our food in the future? What will the cost of dinner be when a barrel of oil is $100? How about at $200?

And cost aside, we’ve learned the hard way over the past several months that we can’t count on the safety of many imported foods. If the foreign countries that we buy from are unable to put standards into place that ensure that what they’re exporting is safe, we’re going to need other options. That will make our local farms and ranches critically important to the long term security of our community.

I definitely understand the frustration that many people feel about Oregon’s land use rules and why they voted for Measure 37. New Seasons Market experienced some crazy and absurdly expensive zoning problems while opening our stores. Somewhere in between the time that our land use rules were initially put into place and today, our state lost its way. Oregon once was vision driven, but we turned into a place that too frequently has operated by nonsensical, inflexible rules.

Of course, under most circumstances, people should be able to build a second or third house on their property for their aging parents or children. And if that’s what Measure 37 actually accomplished, I don’t think hardly anyone would be objecting to it. But as we’ve seen over the last couple of years, Measure 37 really opened Pandora’s Box. There’s a big difference between allowing a place for your Mom to live on your property and turning thousand and thousands of acres of prime agricultural land into subdivisions and strip malls. Measure 49 is the right first step to fix that problem.

I know that Measure 49 isn’t perfect and I imagine that, as a community, we’ll be reevaluating and tweaking the rules for many years to come. That’s as it should be, since it only makes sense to adjust the guidelines as our world around us changes. If we would have done that all along, it’s unlikely that a law as drastic as Measure 37 would ever have been put into place.

But, perfect or not, we can’t afford to wait. Because once the concrete is poured and the cul de sacs go in, there’s no turning back. That’s why I'm going to vote yes on Measure 49. Let’s make sure that our children and grandchildren and the generations to come will be able to experience the safety and pleasure of eating Oregon grown food.