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GOURMET NEWS OCTOBER 2018 www.gourmetnews.com NEWS & NOTES 8 Not So Much Continued from PAGE 1 battle," said Carrie Balkcom, the AGA's Ex- ecutive Director, "The consumer is buying a product they think is coming from here, and it probably isn't." As much as 75 to 80 percent of the grass- fed beef being sold in this country is im- ported from places like Australia, Uruguay and Brazil, Balkcom said. "When we started 'grass-fed,' nobody knew what it was, but now that people are recognizing it, multina- tional corporations have come in from off- shore and are exploiting it, to the detriment of American farmers." Those multinational corporations include Cargill, Tyson, JBS and National Beef, which together control more than 80 percent of the cattle market, accord- ing to a 2017 study by the Organization for Competitive Markets, an advocacy organi- zation headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska whose goal is "to ensure agricultural mar- kets are fair and transparent." The organiza- tion was instrumental in passing mandatory country of origin labeling in 2002, a law that was subsequently repealed by Congress after Canadian and Mexican meat producers complained to the World Trade Organiza- tion that the labeling was hurting their abil- ity to sell meat in the U.S. Recently, though, American farmers' frustration with that situation has come to a head because the bottom dropped out of the market for American-raised grass-fed beef and pork when foreign companies were allowed, not just to avoid labeling their meat as the product of the country where it was born and raised, but as an ac- tual product of the U.S,, says Will Harris, the owner of White Oak Pastures, who raises AGA-certified beef in Georgia and is one of the largest producers of grass-fed beef in this country. "I knew something was happening because we went from not being able to keep up with demand for our grass- fed beef to having to cut margins to move our grass-fed beef," he said. "Over a six- month period or so, we went from not being able to keep up to having to hustle to make a living." When mandatory country-of-origin la- beling was in place, it didn't matter so much that products could say they came from the U.S. if the meat was processed in the U.S. because retailers also had to tell consumers if the animal was born and raised in the U.S. When the COOL require- ment went away, Harris said, "It was like a birthday and Christmas at the same time. Not only did they not have to say 'product of...,' but they could say it was a product of the U.S.... If it comes through a USDA-in- spected facility, it's a 'product of the USA,' whether very much was done there or not. It implies that the animal was born and raised in the U.S. It's a very fraudulent and misleading claim.... 'Product of the US' would indicate to any thinking consumer that the animal was born, raised and slaughtered in the U.S., but in all likeli- hood, the animal never drew a breath in the U.S." "I'm not against competition, but I am against deceptive labeling," said Kevin Ful- ton, a Nebraska farmer who's been grass- finishing cattle for the past 16 years. Today, he's having trouble selling his grass-fed beef because he can't afford to compete on price with grass-fed beef from other countries. Fulton practices intensive grazing on his ir- rigated pastures, and his herd of Galloway- Hereford-Angus beef cows used to sell by the truckload to buyers who were eager to pay him enough to repay the cost of raising those animals. "I had a broker who would routinely tell me that he could take as many truckloads as I could produce, and the price was very good," he said. "We can't sell those truckloads anymore, and if we do, then the price is about half." The consumers being most hurt by the deception are those buying grass-fed meats for what Harris thinks are the right reasons – because they care about the welfare of the animals, regenerative land use practices and the economic regeneration of Ameri- can rural communities. "My customers want to benefit the animals in this country, not halfway around the world," he said. "This claim is particularly fraudulent for my customers than for customers who might prefer grass-fed beef for health or fla- vor reasons," Balkcom said. The AGA members say there's only one way now for American consumers to be sure that the beef and pork is actually a grass-fed product of an American farm, and that's to look for the AGA seal on the pack- age. To earn the seal, the animal must have been fed a 100 percent forage-based diet, with no antibiotics, no added hormones, no confinement and good animal hus- bandry. "We don't allow folks to feed forage in confinement and call it 'grass-fed.' The animals have to have continual access to pasture," Balkcom said. Whisnant's family started Rain Crow Ranch several generations ago. He's been actively marketing grass-fed beef for 30 years and is another large domestic pro- ducer of grass-fed beef in the U.S. A practi- tioner of regenerative agriculture, he's also just become the first pasture-raised pork producer in the U.S. to be certified by the AGA. While he expects to survive the com- petition with foreign grass-fed meats be- cause he has long-standing customers who count on him for the quality of his meats just like he counts on them to appreciate that quality when they consider the price they're willing to offer, he's no longer ad- vising young farmers who don't have those established customers they can expect to make a living raising grass-fed animals, he said. "We are so committed to following the AGA label because we are 100 percent committed to making sure our animals are grass-fed from birth to harvest," Whisnant said. "No grain, no animal by-products. It is very important for the consumer to know the labeling so they can buy American- raised, born-and-bred-in-the-U.S. beef, and they know that because somebody is out there checking on the label.... For the knowledgeable consumer, verification by the AGA is considered the gold standard because they go out every year and physi- cally inspect the farms to ensure that what they're saying is the truth." GN Blood Orange Juice from Dream Foods International Dream Foods International, founded in 1999 and located in Santa Monica, Califor- nia, specializes in award-winning organic citrus juices and natural ethnic foods. The company began bottling juices near the Mount Etna volcano in Sicily where local growers and artisan factories batch-pro- duce the company's juices for distribution across North America. A recent partnership with Polenghi, USA has given Dream Foods International a wide variety of private label options and a larger branded selection for retailers. As one of the largest private label sources in Europe, it now processes 10 percent of the world's lemon juice supply. All of the citrus fruit used to make Dream Foods juices are harvested by hand and processed immediately. The products are organic, non-GMO, kosher and made with not-from-concentrate juices. Every year, time is spent at Sicilian citrus farms to better understand seasonal variations as well as an aid to understand the environmental effects that Mt. Etna, an active volcano, has on citrus. This reg- ular time spent at the farms provides an intimate knowledge of organic citrus, from farm to supermarket, in each and every product. Dream Foods is looking forward to the new horizons of the future. The company added a very strong dry grocery category when it introduced the Casa Mexicana line of authentic Mexican seasonings and rice dishes that feature top-trending flavor pro- files. Building on the success of its current product lines, new products are being de- veloped for the retail shelves that will con- tinue to bring great flavor and taste. The company is attending the show to network in a direct manner with many existing cus- tomers and to introduce Dream Food's ca- pabilities to potential customers. Now that Dream Foods is partnered in Italy with Polenghi USA, it has become one of the largest worldwide suppliers of lemon juice. The partnership has also caused a strong expansion throughout the U.S. and has added great depth to its private label capa- bilities. Blood orange juice is back! After floods and torrential rains throughout Europe, which diminished the crops in 2016-17, this year's yield is abundant and readily available. Dream Foods has expanded lemon juice in both certified organic and conventional juices, as well as in larger foodservice sizes and portion packs. GN BOBO's New STUFF'D Oat Bites BOBO's, the handmade oat bar brand, is launching STUFF'D Bites; sweet, jam-filled, snack-size morsels packed with protein and fiber. Baked with whole grain oats and real organic fruit jam, BOBO's STUFF'D bites provide long lasting energy. BOBO's whole- some and healthy snacks are also gluten- free, vegan and non-GMO. In a market filled with sugary, highly-processed snacks and bars claiming health benefits while hiding harmful ingredients, BOBO'S STUFF'D bites offer an option parents can trust and chil- dren will love, according to the company. "I've always wanted our PB&J and Apple Pie bites to replicate the taste and texture kids expect from a homemade PB&J sand- wich or fresh apple pie," says BOBO's Founder and President, Beryl Stafford. "These new STUFF'D oatmeal bites allow us to give consumers a delicious jam center in- side of the oat bar crust they already love!" Bobo's was started in Boulder in 2003 by Beryl Stafford, a mom who named the com- pany after her daughter Bobo, and is now headed by Chief Executive Officer T.J. McIntyre, who joined the company in 2016. Stafford started by making a batch of oat bars – soft oatmeal cookies in bar form – in her home kitchen over a weekend. They turned out well, and she started sell- ing them to local cafes and then to Whole Foods. A few years later, she was baking her oat bars in a commercial bakery and selling them in supermarkets, and potential investors came calling. Today, the company is still baking all of its products in its Boulder, Colorado, bakery and has completed a re-branding and the strategic work to establish a new foundation, and it's now launching into the national mainstream market. The product range includes 15 fla- vors of oat bars, individually packaged 3- ounce bars that work as both breakfast and afternoon snacks. "It's so simple that any of our consumers could make it at home, yet we do an incredible job of producing a bar that tastes homemade," McIntyre said. "We're the only bar in the category that has a home- baked aroma when you open it." Bobo's consumers enjoy the bars for their flavor first and for functionality second, and the bars bring a sense of freshness to the center of the store, which many consumers regard as a plethora of processed products, McIntyre added. "We are far and away the least-processed bar in the market." Bobo's research indicates that about 50 percent of them are consumed for break- fast, with the rest of them consumed as snacks at scattered times throughout the day. "When our bars are purchased and brought into the house, it's the whole fam- ily that eats them," McIntyre said. The new STUFF'D oat bites are a bite- sized version of the 2.5-ounce STUFF'D bars that the company introduced earlier this year in four flavors: Peanut Butter Filled, Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Chip, Coconut Almond Butter Filled and Chocolate Almond Butter Filled varieties. BOBO's STUFF'D oat bites retail for $4.99 for a pack of five. GN

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