Only one supermarket sells safe pork

Bone-in pork leg at Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

Consumer Reports says its laboratory tests found antibiotic-resistant bacteria and traces of a veterinary drug in 198 pork-chop and ground-pork samples.

"Some of the bacteria we found ... proved to be resistant to antibiotics used to treat people."

"About one-fifth of the 240 pork products we analyzed in a separate test harbored low levels of the drug ractopamine, which the U.S. approved in 1999 to promote growth and leanness in pigs," the magazine said in its January 2013 issue, which has already been sent to subscribers.

"Our food-safety experts say that no drugs should be used routinely in healthy animals to promote growth." 

One way to avoid drugs is to buy certified organic pork from pigs raised without antibiotics and ractopamine, the magazine says, adding:

"Another option is to buy from Whole Foods [Market], which requires that producers not use either type of drug."

Boneless center-cut pork chops at Whole Foods Market.

  

Today, at Whole Foods in Paramus, I found bone-in pork leg from an animal raised at Lucki 7 Livestock in Rodman, N.Y., for only $3.99 a pound, and bought 4 pounds-plus for the meat eaters in the family.

A 42-ounce jar of Organic Strawberry Spread at Costco Wholesale is $7.49.

The same issue rates grape jelly and strawberry jam, but omits Kirkland Signature Organic Strawberry Spread, which is sold at Costco Wholesale.

My teenage son has been raving about the taste, and this morning I made him a peanut-butter-and-strawberry-spread sandwich with slices of skin-on cucumber.

The Kirkland Signature spread is made with fresh organic strawberries and sugar, not the high-fructose corn syrup that goes into the cheaper Smucker's Strawberry Preserves, also sold at Costco.

Don't be a smuck. But the Kirkland Signature spread.
 
 

An open-face omelet with two cheeses and organic diced tomatoes.

This morning, I made an open-face egg-white omelet with the organic diced tomatoes I wrote about in the previous post.

I used one slice of reduced-fat Swiss cheese, then spooned on the organic diced tomatoes, seasoning them with Kirkland Signature Organic No-Salt Seasoning, made with 21 spices.

I topped that with shredded Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and a little Aleppo red pepper, finishing the omelet under the broiler.  

I ate the omelet with Korean-style stewed tofu.