To protect ShopRite brand, store bans antibiotic-free Perdue chicken

"No Antibiotics Administered" on the label sets Readington Farms Chicken apart at ShopRite supermarkets, including the Paramus store. But ShopRite doesn't sell Perdue's Harvestland brand, also raised without antibiotics.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Chicken giant Perdue made a clean breast of it when it unveiled Harvestland -- whole birds and parts raised without harmful antibiotics.

But at the Paramus ShopRite, shelves are filled with packages of  antibiotic-free Readington Farms Chicken, which the supermarket chain sells exclusively, not with Perdue's Harvestland.

This ShopRite continues to offer conventional Perdue Chicken with a deceptive "all natural" label -- the parts are raised on antibiotics that promote growth and cut down on disease in crowded chicken houses.

ShopRite continues to sell Perdue Chicken Drumsticks and other parts from birds raised on antibiotics.

"No antibiotics ever" is on the label of Perdue's Harvestland Chicken Drumsticks, which I saw at H Mart, the Korean supermarket in Englewood.

Readington Farms Chicken at the Paramus ShopRite, 224 Route 4 east. Coleman Organic is the only other brand of antibiotic-free chicken available at this ShopRite.

Locally grown basil in a pot was on sale Tuesday at the Paramus ShopRite.

ShopRite has the best buy on Organic Whole Wheat Pasta from Italy, including this Capellini dressed in a combination of Victoria Marinara and Vodka Sauce. The Luigi Vitelli brand also offers Spaghetti, Linguine, Fusilli and Penne, all for only $1.25 a pound.

At H Mart, first sighting of Perdue chicken raised without antibiotics

Perdue, which has been selling low-quality chicken for decades, says its Harvestland birds are raised on all-vegetarian diet free of harmful antibiotics and animal by-products, such as kitchen scraps and bits of dead animals.

At H Mart in Englewood, boneless Harvestland thighs or what Perdue calls "filets" were a pricey $4.99 a pound. Chicken drumsticks, at $2.99 a pound, are more competitive. 

Editor's note: On a trip to pick up organic eggs and prepared Korean food, I noticed a new brand of Perdue Chicken. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I was heading for the fish counter at H Mart in Englewood the other day when packages of chicken caught my eye.

The Korean supermarket is the first store I've seen that stocks Perdue chicken raised without any kind of antibiotics.

This after decades of selling birds pumped up on harmful antibiotics, and spending millions on deceptive advertising to make the public think Perdue chickens were naturally raised.

Even the Perdue tractor-trailers I've seen on the turnpike had a farmhouse painted on their sides to counter the reality of chickens raised in crowded conditions and growing so large they sometimes fell over and could not get up again. 

We've been buying other antibiotic-free brands, including Coleman and Readington Farms, at Costco Wholesale and ShopRite, and probably won't change to Harvestland.

Perdue's Harvestland brand doesn't replace the cheaper chicken Perdue raises conventionally with harmful antibiotics.

Whole Harvestland Chickens were $2.88 a pound.

Jumbo Brown Organic Eggs were on sale for $3.99 at the H Mart in Englewood, the closest I could get to the $3.50 a dozen Costco Wholesale charges for Large Brown Organic Eggs.

Cage-free, non-organic eggs also were $3.99 at H Mart.

The H Mart at 25 Lafayette Ave. in Englewood has a large selection of prepared food, including panchan, the traditional side dishes served with every Korean meal, above and below.

The H Mart store makes its own items, but also sells food from Jinga and other outside caterers. Prices went up sharply last year.

The package of Jinga Whole Roll or Kimbap I bought for $6.79 was labeled 16 ounces, but weighed more than that on my kitchen scale, lessening the sting.

Jinga's Whole Roll is meatless. Ingredients include seaweed, rice, egg, pollock and crunchy julienned vegetables, and the package includes hot jalapeno slices and Korean pickles. This serving made a light dinner followed by a big salad.

Consumer Reports: Buy only antibiotic-free chicken

The February 2014 issue of Consumer Reports concludes "that most raw chicken breasts are contaminated with bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant strains."

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

An investigation by Consumer Reports magazine led to a startling conclusion:

"Ninety-seven percent of the [chicken] breasts we tested harbored bacteria that could make you sick."

"Consumer Reports' recent analysis of more than 300 raw chicken breasts purchased at stores across the U.S. found potentially harmful bacteria lurking in almost all of the chicken, including organic brands."

Chicken can kill

The magazine's February 2014 issue reports "more deaths were attributed to poultry than to any other commodity," according to an analysis of outbreaks from 1998 through 2008 by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A total of 48 million people fall sick each year from eating tainted food.

Go drug free

"Still, there are good reasons for selecting chicken raised without the use of antibiotics," the magazine advises, adding:

"Buying those products supports farmers who keep their chickens off unnecessary drugs, and that's good for your health and preserves the effectiveness of antibiotics.

"'Chickens without antibiotic resistance to salmonella and other dangerous pathogens can't pass antibiotic-resistant bugs onto you,' says Dr. Robert Lawrence, a professor at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health."

The Costco Connection cover story on "making food safer from farm to table" includes an appetizing photo of cooked poultry, produce and wine.

Costco weighs in

The Costco Connection magazine takes a starkly different approach to its report on food safety.

In a cover story in the January 2014 issue, Editor Tim Talevich asks whether government regulators are "making progress in the effort to make food safer?"

To answer this question, the editor met with officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

He also asked Craig Wilson, who oversees "Costco's food safety and quality-assurance program, to explain how food safety is promoted within Costco,  from fresh meats prepared in warehouse meat departments to packaged foods that come from suppliers."

Costco poultry

The magazine doesn't discuss Costco Wholesale food products that are raised on animal antibiotics, growth hormones or both.

The vast majority of meat and poultry sold at my Costco Wholesale contain harmful animal antibiotics, and labels on farmed fish are silent on whether their feed contains antibiotics or preservatives.

That includes the wildly popular Kirkland Signature whole rotisserie chickens.

At the Hackenack Costco, I've seen two antibiotic-free poultry brands, Coleman Organic and Empire Kosher.  The store also carries organic ground beef.

The ShopRite and Stop & Shop supermarket chains also offer their own brands of antibiotic-free chicken, and I've seen Coleman Organic chicken parts in several North Jersey ShopRites.

Whole Foods Market pledges all of its farmed seafood is raised without antibiotics and preservatives.

Footnote

Consumer Reports could have done a better job of communicating that all chicken, including more expensive organic and antibiotic-free brands, can be contaminated with bacteria.

A heading in the index, repeated in a prominent headline on Page 30 of the February 2014 issue reads:

"The high cost of cheap chicken"

As consumers know, organic and antibiotic-free chicken are more expensive than such low-cost, low-quality brands as Perdue, Amick Farms and Tyson.

Also, chicken breasts aren't the only parts that harbor harmful bacteria.

The Consumer Reports article includes a photo and story about Richard Schiller, 51, of San Jose, Calif., who was sickened by a salmonella strain found in the Foster Farms chicken thighs he ate.

Fire sale on all-natural turkey parts

Image via Wikipedia

More than two weeks after Thanksgiving, Whole Foods Market in Paramus is still selling turkey -- and it's a bargain.


Last week, I picked up trays of turkey drumsticks and thighs for only 99 cents a pound. I called the butcher counter this morning, and was assured more parts were available at this price.


As with all Whole Foods meat and poultry, the turkeys were raised on a vegetarian diet free of antibiotics and growth hormones.


At 99 cents a pound, these turkey parts are cheaper than antibiotic-free chicken parts from Readington Farms or Coleman Organic.


Two large turkey thighs at Whole Foods were $2.07, and trays of two drumsticks were $1.64 and $1.91.


For dinner, I picked up 2 pounds of Blue Bay farmed mussels from Canada for $5.99.


I gladly pay more than at other stores, because these mussels are ready to remove from the net bag and put in a pot.


All I have to do is add chopped tomato, a few ounces of cheap sake and seasoning, and steam them open. They are always grit free -- unlike mussels I've purchased elsewhere.


This is a two-course meal: tender meat plucked from the open shells and a delicious broth.


Whole Foods Market, 300 Bergen Town Center, Paramus;
201-226-1244. Open seven days 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.