Whose supermarket guru?

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All of us want to save money when we shop for food, but we also want to avoid poultry and meat from factory farms, some farmed seafood and produce treated with a lot of pesticides.

However, none of this is discussed in "Save at the Supermarket," an article in the January & February 2010 issue of AARP The Magazine. The author is Phil Lempert, identified as the Supermarket Guru, who appears regularly on the Today Show and The View.

Lempert doesn't mention the antibiotics, hormones or animal by-products used to rush the growth of chickens, cattle, pigs and other animals; he doesn't discuss the merits of wild v. farmed seafood, which could be artificially colored or carry contaminants; and he doesn't recommend Australian beef and lamb, free-range, grass-fed products that are usually cheaper than their conventionally raised U.S. cousins

So whose Supermarket Guru is he?

I wrote a letter pointing out some of these omissions, and AARP The Magazine informed me it did not have room to publish it.

This is the same issue with an article on fish that omits the benefits of sardines.

Whole Foods Market discusses the use of antibiotics in animals on its blog: No antibiotics -- ever

'I hate to eat healthy'

Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix is an important part of a healthy diet, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When I recommended this food blog to a lawyer I met yesterday, he immediately came back with: 

"I hate to eat healthy."

From his conversation with others, I guessed that his wife is not much of a cook and that the most he could expect at home that night was a warmed-up meal from a nearby takeout place. 

When he was growing up, did his mother put a delicious, home-cooked meal on the table every night, as my mother did, fostering a life-long appreciation for good food?

I would imagine he has never stepped foot inside a food store or looked carefully at labels on the processed stuff that passes for food these days. 

Does he know that most of the poultry and beef sold in supermarkets was raised in horrible conditions on factory farms, pumped up with antibiotics and stuffed with feed containing bits of dead animals? 

Or that most salmon served in restaurants is artificially colored? 

He doesn't seem to care.

When I looked at this man, who appeared to be in his late 40s and wore a standard-issue, off-the-rack suit and a boring tie, he didn't really look that healthy. 

At one point, I said I had forgotten his last name and he told me he was "Joe Shmoe." That said it all. He probably shoves any old crap into his mouth.

"I hate to eat healthy."  Isn't that a ridiculous statement? That lawyer is out of order. Naturally raised food tastes far better than conventionally raised fare.

A salad of organic greens is so far above what is served in most places these days, it is a thing of beauty. 

(Indeed, we sent out for lunch and I couldn't finish a Greek salad delivered by a local deli: iceberg lettuce, crappy sliced tomatoes, no stuffed grape  leaves.)

Finding healthy food in supermarkets and on restaurant menus is so worth the effort. 

The feeling of well-being when you sit down to a great meal -- dining in or dining out -- cannot be matched by blindly stuffing your face. 

And an added bonus is gathering family or friends around you for a daily celebration of life.

Too little, too late

After virtually ignoring for at least two years how the food she writes about has been raised or grown, restaurant reviewer Elisa Ung of The Record has a column on the Better Living front today listing places that serve organic items, wild fish or meat and poultry free of antibiotics. She lists five eating places in all of North Jersey.

This past Friday, her restaurant review displayed no such sensibility. She is an inconsistent voice for the consumer. She has spent far more time obsessing over the quality of desserts she has encountered in her reviewing and feature stories.

The Record could be of even more service to readers by listing supermarkets that sell naturally raised food, but that might run afoul of the drive for advertising revenue.

Clashing food coverage at Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports magazine likes to rate supermarkets and chain restaurants, but the food is rarely evaluated on how it was raised or grown. Value is most important. Yet food is treated far differently in Consumer Reports' On Health newsletter, which exposes the dirty details of antibiotics, additives, contaminants and other horror stories.

The magazine's October 2009 issue evaluates store brands under the headlines: "It pays to buy store brands. They often cost less but taste as good." Among other items, two pizzas are evaluated, from DiGiorno and Archer Farms (Target). "Meat lovers might prefer Archer Farms, chock full of pepperoni chunks and slices," the magazine says, without saying whether either pizza uses uncured, preservative-free meat.

The cover article in the magazine's May 2009 issue is on supermarkets: "Shop smart & save big. Our best tips, plus exclusive ratings of 59 supermarkets." A national survey ranks stores on service, perishables, price and cleanliness, but not on the availability of organic products, wild fish, and drug-, hormone, and preservative-free poultry and meat.

The magazine's July 2009 and July 2006 issues rate chain restaurants. The latest report appears under the headlines: "Where to dine well for less. Readers rate food, value & service at 101 chains." But "trained tasters" evaluate steaks on taste and value, not on how the the animals were raised and whether they were given antibiotics, growth hormones and animal by-products.

For example, the $53, 20-ounce strip steak at Morton's The Steakhouse was judged "excellent" in a comparison to three others, including the $22, 14-ounce strip steak at Outback Steakhouse ("very good"). Is the beef grass-fed or grain-fed? Is it free range or was the animal confined in a feedlot and given drugs and growth hormones? We are never told. We don't even find out whether Outback serves Australian beef, which is often grass-fed and free-range.

The magazine's food articles leave many of us hungry for more information. Why do we have to rely on the pricey Consumer Reports On Health newsletter to find out the truth about what is in our food? I'll be passing along some of the On Health reports in future posts.

Web sites

Magazine: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm

On Health: http://www.consumerreports.org/oh/index.htm

Comparing supermarkets

If you want to shop right at ShopRite, you'll have to pick the right store. With three ShopRites within 6 miles of my home, that hasn't always been easy.

The ShopRite in Englewood, where I lived for more than 25 years, is the smallest of the three, but carries more of the products I look for when food shopping. The ShopRite in Rochelle Park, though larger, often disappoints when I'm looking for Readington Farms drug-free chicken and doesn't carry the Certified Angus Beef Natural line. The ShopRite in Hackensack, which is closest to me, doesn't seem well-run and doesn't run a sale as often as the Englewood store. Rather than go there, I'd keep driving to the H-Mart, the Korean supermarket at the Little Ferry Circle.

The Englewood store is the only one of the three to carry the Applegate Farms line of preservative-free cold cuts and Certified Angus Beef Natural, which is antibiotic- and hormone-free. On Saturday, I saw London broil and ground beef. It also has the largest selection of Readington Farms vegetarian-fed chicken.

Rochelle Park's strong suit is produce -- large bunches of arugula for 98 cents each and Jersey peaches for 99 cents a pound. But it had a 1-pound container of Campari tomatoes for $4.99, twice the price as elsewhere, and a pound of Olivia's organic spring mix for $6.99 v. Costco's price, $4.49 for Earthbound Farm. On Sunday, a sign said two bunches of arugula or watercress were $4, which seemed high, but the two arugula bunches rang up for $1.99. Basil was $1.49 a bunch, but a few days before, it was $1.69. Go figure.

Still, all the ShopRite stores have sold me more produce that never ripened or rotted overnight, because of poor storage, than I care to remember.

All three stores often fail me when I'm in search of Australian free-range lamb, especially the moderately priced shoulder chops. And the availability of Nature's Reserve free-range steaks from Australia is spotty. I stopped buying fish at ShopRite after an employee in Rochelle Park told me he sprayed it with a preservative. I do buy live lobsters there. (Revised Tuesday, Aug. 4.)

Cashing in on your love for food

Two credit cards from American Express give you cash back when you shop at supermarkets and eat in restaurants. Neither has an annual fee. I have collected thousands of dollars in cash rebates. I once used a Continental Airlines mileage credit card, but found booking the seats difficult or impossible.

The Blue Cash card from American Express gives you 5% back for purchases at supermarkets, gasoline stations and pharmacies once you've spent $6,500 on the card. For purchases at Costco, you get 1.5% back. All other purchases give you 1.5% back, not the usual 1%.

The True Earnings card, which is also a Costco card, gives you 3% back on restaurant meals, 2% on hotels and rental cars, and 1% everywhere else, including Costco. If you are an executive member at Costco ($100 annual fee), you'll get another 2% back from the warehouse store. Yesterday, I received $167.66 from Costco. Bon apetit!

(The original post described the second card incorrectly as the True Value card.)