At ShopRite, naturally raised Australian beef isn't created equal

Clayton's 100% Organic Ground Beef, which is free of harmful antibiotics, is one of the two brands of naturally raised Australian beef available at ShopRite. 

Three 1-pound packages of Clayton's 100% Organic Ground Beef often go on sale for $4.99 each at the Paramus ShopRite, 224 Route 4 east.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

ShopRite supermarkets in five states, including New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, sell two brands of naturally raised Australian beef.

The cooperative probably is the biggest retailer of organic and free-range, grass-fed beef outside of Whole Foods Market.

Grass-fed Australian beef is said to be leaner and to have fewer calories than American beef.

In addition, Australian beef boasts of containing more heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, such as those found in salmon and other fish.

The United States is the second-biggest market for beef from Australia after Japan.

Nature's Reserve beef -- which is marketed as free range and 100% grass fed -- was the first Australian brand sold at ShopRite, usually in a whole beef tenderloin for filet mignon that retails for several dollars a pound less than the same domestic cut.

Although I no longer eat beef, other members of the family enjoy this cut thinly sliced, grilled on the stove-top and eaten wrapped in red-leaf lettuce leaves, a home version of Korean cook-on-the table barbecue restaurants. 

Nature's Reserve beef once was marketed as antibiotic free.

See the Nature's Reserve Web site:

'Good for the animals, good for the land'  


New beef in town

At the end of 2012, ShopRite introduced antibiotic-free Australian beef raised on organic farms and sold under the Clayton's brand name.

Clayton's 100% Organic Beef is raised on organic grass, organic sorghum and organic corn, all of which are free of genetically modified organisms.

See the Clayton's Organic Web site:

'Beef the way it used to be'

Nature's Reserve 100% Grass Fed Beef usually sells for $4.99 a pound at the Paramus ShopRite, above and below. Nature's Reserve markets meat raised on many Australian farms.

Clayton's Organic Beef also is available as Top Round London Broil, above, and as steaks.

Nature's Reserve beef often goes on sale for as little as $5.99 a pound.

Laying in food for the holiday

Image via Wikipedia
At Costco Wholesale, you can find the same Parmigiano Reggiano displayed at this festival in Modena, Italy. The cheese has been made since before the Renaissance. 

Editor's note: Today, I discuss last-minute food shopping at Costco Wholesale, fresh fish at Whole Foods Market and Australian beef at ShopRite.

I was in and out of Costco Wholesale in about 20 minutes this morning, buying ingredients for a big salad we plan to serve to guests on Saturday.


I picked up a naturally raised, fully cooked Niman Ranch ham and large Tiger shrimp on previous visits to the Hackensack warehouse store, so I only had to nibble around the edges of our holiday menu.


I bought a second package of Andy Boy jumbo romaine hearts (six for $3.99), because that wonderful Earthbound Farms Organic Spring Mix sold at Costco doesn't always stand up well until its expiration date.


I also found pesticide-free Euro Farm Fresh seedless cucumbers (three for $3.99), and in view of tomato prices going through the roof, I picked up another 5 pounds of Sunset beefsteak tomatoes for $6.99 or about $1.20 a pound.


The romaine, tomatoes and cucumbers are going into the salad, along with fresh spinach, organic carrot,  sweet peppers and other ingredients I have on hand. 


We're having a Jamaican-American meal on Christmas Eve this year, in contrast to last year's Cuban-style dinner of roast pork, rice cooked with black beans, and yuca with garlic sauce we picked up at La Pola in West New York.


On Friday, we're planning to visit La Pola, at Palisade Avenue and 54th Street, to bring holiday greetings to owner Belarmino Rico, who named his Cuban sandwich shop after the small Spanish town where he was born.


On Saturday, our guests will be bringing curry goat, rice and peas, roast chicken and Jamaican potato salad to supplement the ham, shrimp, fish stuffed with okra and salad we plan to serve.


We've prepared a Jamaican drink from a herb called sorrel, with ginger and rum; and there are four bottles of non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider in the wine cooler.


For dessert, we'll serve fruit and cheese, including Kirkland Signature Parmigiano Reggiano from Italy I picked up at Costco ($12.69 a pound). The part-skimmed cow's milk cheese, aged for 24 months, has been made in Italy since before the Renaissance, according to the package. 


When I got home, I cut off the thick rind, then cut the wedge into three portions, wrapping them tightly.


I also bought organic carrot juice, organic 1% milk, Tropicana orange juice in 64-ounce cartons, crab and corn chowder, 3 pounds of raw almonds, reduced-fat sliced Swiss cheese and fresh Pacific cod fillet.


Go fish in Paramus


You'll find some of the freshest fish around displayed on ice at Whole Food Market in Paramus, and when the store puts seafood on sale, prices are competitive.


On Tuesday, I saw fillets of wild-caught sockeye salmon from Canada on sale for $9.99 a pound -- not much higher than Costco's frozen sockeye salmon fillets from Alaska. The Canadian fillets had been previously frozen.


I also saw whole sea bass landed at Barnegat Light (on the Jersey Shore), which is 63 miles from the store, according to a sign. The price was $9.99 a pound.


Grass-fed beef price cut


Through Saturday, ShopRite supermarkets have dropped the price of free-range, grass-fed Nature's Reserve Boneless Rib Eye Roast from Australia by $2, to $4.99 a pound with a store card. There is a limit of one.

Australian beef takes center stage

Tenderloin in the beef cut chart.

Image via Wikipedia

There is good news for meat eaters in the ShopRite sales flier: Free-range, grass-fed filet mignon from Australia for only $4.99 a pound with the PriceClub Card. The sale starts Sunday.


You'll have to buy the whole beef tenderloin sold under the Nature's Reserve label, probably a minimum of four pounds. And when you get it home, you'll need to trim it well. The last time I bought this beef, I sliced all of it thin and put it in freezer bags with marinade for Korean barbecue at home. But you can also cut it into small steaks.


The same cut of conventionally raised American beef also is on sale at ShopRite for $6.99 a pound with the card.


ShopRite can sell foreign beef for $4.99 a pound, compared with $10 or more a pound for American, grass-fed beef, because costs are so much lower in Australia. The same goes for naturally raised Australian lamb. Why Australian beef isn't served more in American steak houses is a big question.


Free-range, grass-fed beef has less fat than beef from cattle confined to pens and fed only grain; it cooks faster and probably shouldn't be prepared past medium.

Shopping and tasting notes

Image by Tony the Misfit via Flickr

When you live in Hackensack, as I do, it doesn't make sense to do takeout from Aleppo, my favorite Middle Eastern restaurant in Paterson. But on the way home from Morristown yesterday on Route 80, it was an easy detour to buy our dinner and stock up on Syrian bread, sardines, canned hummus and other items. (Photo: Great Falls in Paterson.)

My first stop was the parking lot in front of Fattal's Bakery on Main Street. I bought 10 cans of sardines (99 cents to $1.09 each); three dozen fresh pocket breads ($1.50 a dozen), canned hummus ($1.09), hot peppers ($2.99 a pound) and homemade spinach-and-cheese pies ($8.99 for six).

At Aleppo, less than two blocks away at Main and Thomas streets, I asked Halla the waitress for a bowl of lentil soup -- a delicious puree scented with cumin and served with small pieces of fried bread and lemon. I also ordered takeout -- fried whiting with rice, the hot pepper dip called muhammara, hummus and fried cheese turnovers.

The fish, oily rice, dips and turnovers made another satisfying, meatless dinner. Tomorrow will mark our third week without chicken, beef, pork or lamb, and I still haven't run out of menu ideas. I've actually dropped a few pounds and can fit into my old jeans again.


Thursday night, we enjoyed Boca-brand soy burgers with cheese on yeasty Balthazar Bakery potato-onion rolls. I made a Syrian-style fingerling potato salad: extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, allspice, coarse Aleppo red pepper and salt to taste, and also served an organic green salad.

I'm not sure where we'll be eating tonight -- our weekly dinner out -- but I have lobster ravioli and corn-and-crab chowder in the freezer for Sunday dinner.

Although we haven't been buying meat, I've noticed ShopRite hasn't put free-range, grass-fed Australian beef on sale for weeks, but continues to discount conventionally raised U.S. beef and chicken.

What do "cage free" and "free range" mean?

"The USDA doesn't regulate the use of the term 'cage free' at all," Consumer Reports On Health reported in its February 2009 newsletter. "And it uses 'free range' only for poultry, not other meat or eggs. Even for chicken, the term doesn't mean much -- 5 minutes of open-air access daily is all it takes to qualify."

This raises a couple of questions. Why is Murray's chicken, the drug-free brand sold at Fairway Market, called "free-roaming" and not "free-range"? Shop-Rite advertises Australian beef as "free range," which would seem to be a violation of USDA rules. Or is Australian beef exempt from U.S. rules, even though it is sold here?

The most dangerous room in the house

I have long felt the kitchen is the most dangerous room in the house, given the controversies over cookware, dinnerware and the industrial methods applied to how much of our food is grown or raised. (See last post, "If it's made in China, is it safe?")

There is plenty of good, healthy food on sale, but it is usually only a fraction of what a normal supermarket carries. I have visited Costco, Super Stop & Shop and ShopRite in the past week or two and watched what other consumers select.

Drawn by low prices and deceptive TV advertising, a lot of people are buying that crappy Perdue chicken and passing up healthier alternatives -- chicken raised on vegetarian feed and without antibiotics.

Fairway Market occasionally puts Murray's free-roaming chicken on sale, but ShopRite rarely discounts its drug-free Readington Farms poultry. Yet ShopRite will turn around and offer drug-free Australian beef at bargain-basement prices. Stop & Shop has a line of natural food called Nature's Promise -- poultry, beef and pork, among other items -- and sometimes offers discounts. Whole Foods Market frequently puts its naturally raised food on sale, but prices are still higher than most competitors.

This afternoon, there was an online auction at dailywish.amexnetwork.com offering $50 back on a purchase of $100 or $25 back on a $50 purchase at Whole Foods Market, but it sold out quickly.

Can supermarkets promote unadulterated food better? I think so. A consistent sales policy -- discounting both conventional and naturally raised food -- would go a long way toward that goal. I don't mind paying more for food that costs more to produce, but give me a break once in a while.

And the media, which depend on supermarkets for precious advertising dollars, virtually ignore the challenge of shopping for food these days, lest they have to criticize these food giants for sales policies that seduce consumers into making the wrong choices.