Credible Edibles: ethical, ecological food

Credible Edibles: nutritious, delicious, environmentally conscious

What We Do

Good Food | Responsible Food | Ethical Food | Environmental Food | Nutritious Food

Ethical Food

As global citizens, we all want to know that we are contributing to a healthier, safer and more just world for all our fellow human beings. We try to make ethical choices in things such as our financial investments, our consumer purchases and our charitable givings. Being ethical or choosing ethical food is another facet that is sometimes overlooked.

Not only can we look for foods that do not harm nature (environmental food) and do not harm producers (responsible food) but for some foods we need to consider other harmful practices. More specifically our animal-based food choices have another important dimension and this is where ethical foods come in the picture. Ethical foods are those that are produced without causing harm to fish, fowl or farm animal.

Fortunately it has never been easier to find ethical options for the fish, poultry, beef, pork and other animal products we choose to eat. Some of these options include free-range eggs, free-run hens, grass-fed, pastured-raised beef, dolphin-friendly salmon and tuna and more.

Seafood

Canadians know all too well the devastating effect of a poorly managed fishery and the collapse of the once abundant cod stocks is still a reality today. All the world�s oceans are in similar danger and many different fish stocks are in dire peril today. As consumers we have the responsibility to choose those seafood products which have been identified as ethical from a sustainability standpoint. This can be confusing and hard to do. However, many organizations have been set up to help consumers make ethical choices. Some of the best include SeaChoice (www.seachoice.org),

Ocean Wise (www.vanaqua.org/conservation/oceanwise) and

Seafood Watch (www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch).

Poultry and Eggs

Not all eggs or chickens are equal. Modern factory farming techniques are far less than humane. Laying and meat chickens are kept in small cages, so closely packed that they usually have to remove their beaks and claws to prevent them from clawing each other or themselves. Meat and eggs produced under such conditions are neither particularly healthy nor ethical. According to Jo Robinson, a New York Times best-selling writer, there are �hundreds of peer-reviewed studies showing that raising animals on pasture is good for the animals, the environment, farm families, and the health of consumers.� (www.eatwild.com) Just like with fair trade products, the free bonus you get from buying free-range or pastured poultry and eggs is that, in addition to being more humane, they are generally raised without hormones and antibiotics (absolutely essential in factory farm settings due to the crammed, unsanitary conditions). Furthermore, studies have shown than free-range eggs are much more nutritious than their factory-farmed cousins. They contain 7 times more beta-carotene, 3 times more vitamin E, twice as much omega-3 fatty acids, 2/3 more vitamin A and less cholesterol and saturated fat (www.motherearthnews.com).

Meat

The same benefits found in free-range or pastured poultry are true for all meat animals raised today. Truly sustainable livestock farming requires the use of a pasture-based system. Pasture-raised animals roam freely in their natural environment where they're able to eat nutritious grasses and other plants that their bodies are adapted to digest. In addition to dramatically improving the welfare of farm animals, pasturing also helps reduce environmental damage, and yields meat, eggs, and dairy products that are tastier and more nutritious than foods produced on factory farms. (www.sustainabletable.org) So, once again, the ethical choice also turns out to be the healthier choice for our own health. It is widely accepted that grass fed animals produce flesh that is nutritionally superior to animals fed grains in the latter part of their lives. Pastured meat is lower in fat, higher in omega 3 fats, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), vitamins E and A. Grass-fed animals are also healthier. (www.yourhealthbase.com/farming.htm)