A Real Hamburger Helper

scleaver — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:54:55 -0400

Figuring out your food miles will get easier by October.

As the Chicago Tribune reported, starting September 30, a new federal law will require meat labels that show the country of origin on beef, pork, chicken, lamb, as well as fruits, veggies, and some nuts.

Country of Origin Labels (also known as COOL) will tell you whether the animal was raised in the U.S. or another country so you can identify food that comes from countries with safety concerns, or so you can keep your food dollars in the U.S. But, some labels may be more complicated than you realize: ground beef labels may have more than one country listed, because the process to make a hamburger requires meat from more than one country.

As COOL starts up, some (the USDA, the Consumers Union) are against the law either because it doesn’t cover enough (the Consumers Union) or because they think consumers will know too much and are concerned about cost (the USDA). We’ll see how the COOL labels play out, but in the meantime, how much information do you want on your meat label?

Photo from the Dvorak Uncensored blog.

How Do We Label an Eco-Label?

Julia — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I found the most wonderful green resource website (second to this one, of course). It’s called EcoLabelling.org, and you can discover labels for all sorts of eco-friendly products and services.

Their tagline is, “Who’s deciding what’s green?” which, is agreat question that nobody really seems to be asking or answering. EcoLabelling.org has started collecting, organizing, and explaining as many standards as they can find. The site is very simple to navigate. You can begin searching by region- all the continents; or by type- food, electronics, buildings, etc. Once you narrow down your search they provide you with the name of the organization, the type of organization it is, the number of products and/or companies certified, and the contact information for that organization.

This is an absolutely brilliant idea! Words like ‘green,' ‘fair trade,’ and ‘good for the environment’ are getting thrown around everywhere. From small boutiques to huge corporations, everyone is claiming changed ways due to the green revolution that is just beginning to take the world by storm. But how do we know what to believe with all of this information being thrown at us? This website provides the material we need to garner the distinctions between the good and the bad.

There are many stories of companies that have claimed that their products meet a certain green criteria, and are ultimately deemed false or fabricated. EcoLabelling does not reveal which companies are greenwashing and using propaganda, however- they simply want to include all of the eco-labels out there, and reveal which companies are really working to reduce their carbon footprints.

The site also has a blog that updates daily about environmental news in the media. While the site is still a work in process, the team at EcoLabelling seems eager to expand and grow: “We’ll continue to add fields and refine layout over time. We are interested in your opinion, particularly if you are in procurement, industry, finance, retail and definitely if you are a consumer with a penchant for label spotting. If we can make it more useful, let us know.”

So perhaps you have something to contribute to the site. It’s a global effort after all. That includes all of us. Check it out and stay posted on what’s out there!